Amelia Pond and the boy who fell out of a tree
by StormWolf10
Summary: Based on the quote from 'Day of the Moon'- 'My life was so boring before you just dropped out of the sky'. Cover photo (c) me
1. The boy who fell out of a tree

**A/N: I know, I know, I shouldn't be posting yet another story while my others are still unfinished, but this idea jumped out at me and I couldn't resist. This has the potential to be a multi-chapter fic looking at different points in Amy and Rory's life, but that depends on how well it's received. Anywho, read and review please!**

Amelia Pond stood near the edge of the playground, watching the other children run around and play while their parents stood in clusters, chatting with each other. She didn't know anyone here, and she hated this dull little village she was being forced to live in. Leadworth was so small it was barely even on the map, and the little girl from Inverness really didn't see why her Aunt Sharon had ever settled here. Of course, this small, dull village was now Amelia's home, but she decided that just because she lived there, she didn't have to like it. The only few shops were the village shop, the post office, a butchers' and a bakers', and the only thing for children Amelia's age was the small play park. Needless to say, Amelia Pond was not impressed. She smiled awkwardly at some parents who glanced her way, and she tugged at the sleeves of her slightly-too-big red school jumper, clutching her bag and lunch box to her tight. She wasn't usually this awkward; in fact, Amelia Pond was usually rather confident, but since arriving in the playground only ten minutes before when Aunt Sharon dropped her off, she had already heard several children asking about 'the new girl's strange accent'. All of the other children seemed to be ignoring her, and Amelia had never felt more invisible or alone in all her seven years. Her parents were…gone. Her Aunt was always too busy working to give her a second thought. Sighing, she wandered a few paces across the playground to stand beneath a large tree. Above her head, there was suddenly a large _crack_, a yelp and a thud. Amelia jumped, and was alarmed to see a young boy of about her age land on the grass beside her.

"Are you alright?" Amelia asked in concern, quickly dropping her bag and lunch box and crouching beside the boy.

"Yeah," the boy replied, sitting up and rubbing his arm.

Like Amelia, he was wearing a bright red school jumper and white polo shirt. Amelia noticed that he had sandy brown hair and a nose that looked as if the rest of his face still had to grow into it slightly. Amelia opened her mouth to introduce herself as the boy sat up, but she was interrupted by a group of boys- evidently the same age as them- laughing and pointing at the boy who had fallen out of the tree.

"I told you Rory couldn't climb trees!" One of the boys laughed, grinning.

"Leave him alone!" Amelia told them, pushing herself to her feet and glaring at the boys.

The boys shook their heads and walked away, still chuckling.

"Y- You didn't need to do that," the boy- Rory- stuttered as Amelia turned back to him.

By now, Rory was on his feet.

"They were making fun of you," Amelia replied "I wasn't going to stand here and do nothing. I'm Amelia Pond by the way,"

She held out her hand and Rory blinked owlishly for a few seconds before shaking her hand.

"I'm Rory Williams," Rory told her, smiling slightly "but I suppose you already knew that. I'm guessing you're new..?"

Amelia blushed and nodded. Just then, a man appeared behind Rory, looking rather worried as he crouched in front of the boy.

"Are you alright, son? You took quite a tumble from that tree…And those boys weren't being nasty to you, were they?" the man asked quickly as he brushed Rory's uniform down.

"I'm fine, Dad. Promise." Rory replied quietly.

Rory's Dad smiled weakly at his son, and ruffled his hair before standing.

"Ah, hello!" he announced to Amelia, seemingly having just noticed her "You must be Amelia Pond! You're living with your Aunt Sharon, I hear?"

Amelia nodded, unsure what to say to this man, although both he and Rory seemed nice enough.

"I'm Brian Williams, and I see you've already met my son Rory. We live just down the road from you, in fact. Perhaps, if it's alright with your Aunt, you can come round for tea one night?" Brian asked Amelia.

Amelia immediately grinned and nodded.

"I'd like that, Mr Williams," Amelia replied excitedly.

"Just Brian, please," Brian insisted, smiling.

Amelia nodded, and just then, a teacher began ringing a hand bell.

"Looks like it's the start of school," Rory commented, accepting his book bag and lunch box from his Dad "do you know whose class you're in yet?"

Amelia nodded.

"I'm in Mrs Dunn's class," Amelia announced, watching as Brian hugged Rory goodbye before heading for the school gates.

"Same class as me," Rory told her, leading her across the playground "I'll show you where to line up,"

"Why were you up that tree, Rory?" Amelia asked suddenly.

Rory swallowed hard and shrugged.

"They…They said I couldn't climb the tree, so I was going to prove them wrong." Rory answered awkwardly, blushing slightly.

Amelia was quickly coming to realise that Rory Williams was a rather shy, awkward boy. And even though he was nothing like her, Amelia Pond hoped that this was the start of a strong friendship.

"You were trying to prove yourself?" Amelia asked, frowning.

Rory nodded glumly.

"You didn't need to do that," Amelia told him, echoing his words from just a few minutes before.

"No?" Rory asked, eyes lighting up with hope.

"No." Amelia agreed, smiling "You know, I thought Leadworth was really boring, and then you just dropped out of the sky!"

"I- I don't always do that," Rory told her hastily as they joined the back of their class line.

"I wouldn't mind if you did. And for the record, you've already proven yourself to me." Amelia told him confidently.

Rory grinned, and Amelia Pond realised that maybe Leadworth wasn't as bad as she thought. Of course, she still didn't _like_ the place yet, but at least she wasn't as lonely now.


	2. Nativity

**A/N: Ok, this is definitely multi-chapter. And well done Moffat for making the bloody plot so twisted that the characters I'm using run through two different timelines and so I don't even know if this chapter makes sense… **

"But the Raggedy Doctor promised he'd come back for me!" Amelia protested as she walked along the pavement.

"I'm sure he did, Amelia," Brian replied, smiling at the little girl.

"He _is_ real!" Amelia continued, frowning at her best friend's Dad.

Brian didn't reply, but saw Rory slip his hand into Amelia's, squeezing it gently.

"I believe you, Amelia," Rory told her quietly, earning himself a small smile from the little Scottish girl.

Brian watched the two seven year olds, smiling softly. Within a few minutes, they had reached the Williams' house, and Brian carefully stepped past the children to unlock the front door. Once inside, he helped the two children hang their coats and scarves up before they ran upstairs to Rory's room.

"I'll give you a shout when tea's ready," Brian shouted after the children, shaking his head.

He wondered what time Sharon would be round to pick Amelia up tonight. Not that he minded having the little girl round, but the last time Amelia came to tea Sharon hadn't picked the girl up until nearly quarter past nine, way past either of the children's bedtimes. Brian was beginning to wonder whether this 'Raggedy Doctor' was merely someone Amelia had created for herself so that she didn't feel so ignored at home. He did his best to entertain Amelia's little imaginary friend, and had expected it to fizzle out within a few weeks, but nearly two months later, Amelia was talking about her imaginary friend more and more each day. As Brian set to work on dinner, he sighed when there was a thud from the room above; Rory's room. Fortunately, the thud was followed by laughter, so Brian assumed they were alright up there.

**~StormWolf10~**

Amelia and Rory were lying on the floor of Rory's bedroom, colouring pictures when Brian called them to say that dinner was ready. The two children trudged downstairs, Amelia still talking away about her Raggedy Doctor while Rory nodded along and inserted a comment or two at appropriate points.

"It's fish fingers and chips for tea tonight, if that's ok with you two," Brian told them as they slid into their favoured seats at the dining room table.

"And custard?" Amelia asked eagerly, looking up at Brian.

"Yes, Amelia, but the custard is for _dessert_," Brian told the girl, his tone gentle but forceful.

He had heard on more than one occasion about Amelia's 'Raggedy Doctor' and his strange choice of foods; namely, fish fingers and custard. Amelia pouted for a few moments, but she soon tucked into her dinner instead.

"Anything interesting happen at school today?" Brian asked, directing his question at his son, knowing that Amelia would be more than happy to do the talking for both of them.

"Mrs Dunn is getting us to do a class nativity." Rory told his Dad quietly.

"Oh, right?" Brian replied "That sounds like fun. Are you looking forward to it?"

Rory shrugged, while Amelia nodded enthusiastically.

"You have to audition for a big part," Rory answered "I'll probably just be in the chorus."

"_I'm_ going to audition," Amelia piped up eagerly "I want to be the star!"

"Mary?" Brian asked.

Amelia shook her head, frowning.

"No, the _star_! The Christmas Star! Mrs Dunn's writing songs for the nativity and one of them is for the Christmas Star." Amelia explained quickly "That is, if the Doctor hasn't come back for me by then."

Brian merely nodded in support, silently reminding himself to have a talk with Sharon at some point about how she barely ever spent time with her niece. He was starting to worry that it was…_affecting_ Amelia. The rest of the dinner was eaten in silence, although Brian did have to berate Amelia when he brought out dessert only to find that the little girl had hidden a fish finger in her lap to eat with her custard.

**~StormWolf10~**

As it turned out, Amelia was picked up by her Aunt Sharon at just gone seven, but Brian didn't see the little girl again for almost a week. During that week, rehearsals for the nativity had begun. Rory wouldn't talk much about his role in the nativity, and Brian assumed that he had been given a part in the chorus. He had, however, heard that Amelia had successfully gotten the role of the Christmas Star, much to her delight. The weekend after that, Amelia slept over at the Williams' house after her Aunt Sharon 'just _had_ to go to a business event in London'. For several weeks after that, both Rory and Amelia were forced to stay later at school for rehearsals of the nativity. Still, Brian knew nothing about Rory's role in the whole thing. Eventually, however, the end of the school term arrived, and with it, the nativity that Mrs Dunn's class had put together. Brian was one of many parents, staff and children who attended the nativity, and he was more than a little put out when he noticed that Amelia's Aunt Sharon was nowhere in sight. He slid into a seat in the front row just as the lights dimmed. The nativity began, and Leadworth village hall was quickly filled with clapping, music and singing. Brian made sure that he clapped particularly hard when Amelia appeared on stage, dressed up as a star to sing her solo. He noticed immediately when Amelia scanned the crowd during her solo and failed to spot her Aunt in the audience. Her smile slipped slightly, but she continued singing, and it wasn't until almost the end of the song when she spotted Brian. Amelia's grin brightened once more upon seeing that she had at least one person in the audience, even if she was sharing them with her best friend. However, Brian failed to spot his son in the chorus, and was beginning to wonder whether his son had pulled out at the last minute. There was a short interval halfway through, and Brian considered slipping backstage to find his son. Just as he went to do so, he was stopped by a beaming Mrs Dunn.

"Ah, Brian! Lovely to see that you made it! Rory's looking wonderful in his costume, but I think he is rather nervous! He's on stage just after the interval by the way," Mrs Dunn announced, grinning. Then, her grin faltered as she continued "and I'm glad to see that Amelia has you here despite her Aunt deciding her priorities lie…_elsewhere_."

Brian nodded, and Mrs Dunn excused herself to go and talk to some other parents. Brian made his way across the hall and over to the small stall selling refreshments. Partway there, he accidentally bumped into a woman in a greenish-beige raincoat, and quickly apologised. The woman had curly, sandy blonde hair and was wearing a black dress and high heels, and Brian knew for a fact she didn't live in the village.

"Sorry," he told her, smiling uncertainly.

"Oh, that's quite alright, sweetie," the woman replied, smiling. She began to move away.

"Umm, sorry, but you're not from around here, are you?" Brian asked, stopping the woman as she began to walk off.

The woman hesitated slightly before replying.

"No. No, I'm a journalist. I'm doing an article on the village nativities this year," the woman replied, smiling sincerely.

"Ah, right," Brian answered, nodding "I just figured that you were a relative of one of the children or something. I'm Brian Williams, by the way, although my son has yet to come on stage. He hasn't even told me what role he's playing,"

"Rory…" the woman whispered, eyes widening.

"Err, yes, I'm Rory Williams' Dad," Brian told her, frowning slightly "how did you know his name?"

"I was speaking to the teacher just now. And that Amelia Pond was quite good too. I don't suppose her parents, or guardians are around…?"

"I'm afraid not," Brian replied, tensing slightly.

"Oh." The woman looked rather surprised and upset for a moment, before smiling and bidding him goodbye.

Bemused, Brian headed back to his seat a sparse few minutes before the second part of the nativity began.

**~StormWolf10~**

Brian really didn't know what to say. Rory had finally stepped onto the stage, dressed as a shepherd with a tea towel tied round his head with a bit of rope. Strands of sandy brown hair were just visible beneath the towel, and he was wearing a brown tunic and carrying a crook. However, the thing that perplexed Brian was that his son _had_ auditioned for a big part, _had_ gotten the role, and _was_ currently singing a solo on the stage. In all fairness, each of the five shepherds had a solo, and it was only one verse each in the song, but it had not been what Brian was expecting. Not from his shy, awkward son. Maybe Amelia had been rubbing off on him. Eventually, the nativity ended and Brian waited patiently until the children were brought out, back in their own clothes, to be collected by their parents.

"You two were brilliant!" Brian told Amelia and Rory as they ran over to him.

Both the children blushed, but Amelia quickly began looking for her Aunt again.

"Aunt Sharon isn't here?" she asked sadly.

Brian shook his head and sighed.

"No, but I'm sure she had a good reason. Come on, it's time to get you two home. How would you like to sleep round tonight, Amelia?" Brian asked.

Amelia perked up again and nodded eagerly, as did Rory.

"Come on then, you two," Brian told them.

Amelia grabbed Rory's hand and began tugging him towards the hall door, closely followed by Brian. They had just gotten outside when Amelia froze.

"What's wrong, Amelia?" Brian asked, frowning.

"N-Nothing," the little girl stuttered, brow furrowed "I just thought I saw the Raggedy Doctor,"

"It was probably just a shadow," Brian replied, nudging the children along the pavement again.

Brian glanced over his shoulder as they walked back to their house, looking for a glimpse of the person Amelia had seen. For a moment, he thought he saw a man in the shadows, hands in his pockets. But when he looked again, all that was there was the tiniest glimpse of a black high heel and a pair of boots as they disappeared around the corner.


	3. Raggedy Doctor

**A/N: Ok, new chapter! It's not as long as the previous two chapters, but I've been working on it for ages and I think that this is as good as it will get- there's surprisingly not that much to write about for this chapter…**

"I'm not sure we should be doing this," Rory piped up nervously.

"Don't be stupid, Rory! We're not doing any harm!" Amelia protested over her shoulder, flinging a tie at her best friend.

It landed on Rory's head, and he quickly reached up to pull it off. Amelia dug through Brian's wardrobe for a few more minutes- Rory looking cautiously over his shoulder as she did so- before declaring that they had everything they needed. And with that, the two seven year olds scampered downstairs and out into the garden, their arms full of 'props'. Once they were safely behind the Williams' garden shed- and, consequently, out of sight from Brian in the kitchen- Amelia dropped the shirt and tie she was carrying and began tugging Rory's jumper off.

"W-What are you doing?!" Rory spluttered, although he didn't try to stop Amelia from tugging his school jumper off him.

"Getting you changed," Amelia replied, as if it was obvious.

Within a matter of minutes, Rory was dressed in his Dad's shirt, his untied tie hanging round his neck.

"Do you know how to do this up?" Amelia asked, fingering the tie cautiously.

Rory thought for a minute or so before nodding.

"I saw Dad tying his tie when he went to Mrs Poggit's surprise birthday party," Rory replied.

He uncertainly began tying the tie, and after three failed attempts, finally managed to tie it properly. Once that was done, Amelia grinned at him.

"What do we need the rest of the stuff for?" Rory asked, eying the pile of blue bed sheets that was dumped on the grass.

"These are to cover the shed!" Amelia told her friend, already moving forward to gather the bundle into her arms.

**~StormWolf10~**

It took the two children almost fifteen minutes to drape the blue sheets over the Williams' old shed, and almost ten minutes of that was spent with Amelia up a tree so she could reach the top of the shed. Eventually, however, the shed was draped in blue sheets, and the two children were rather proud of themselves.

"Now what?" Rory asked after a few moments of admiring their handiwork.

Amelia paused for a few moments, thinking hard, before suddenly grinning. Rory merely watched her in confusion.

"Come on, Doctor!" Amelia yelled suddenly, grabbing Rory's hand and dragging him towards the shed "Hurry, before the monsters get us!"

Soon, the two children were hunkered down in the shed, sat between plastic buckets and half-rusted bikes and barely-completed bookcases.

"What do we do, Doctor? They've got us surrounded!" Amelia announced excitedly, gripping Rory's arm.

"I…I think we should try scaring them off," Rory replied, stumbling over the words slightly. He wasn't completely aware of what the Doctor was really like, after all.

However, he seemed to be doing well enough, as Amelia grinned and nodded eagerly, clambering to her feet. Her school uniform was streaked with dust and dirt, but she seemed too wrapped up in the game to notice. Rory pushed himself to his feet and together they began gathering anything they could use to defend themselves against the imaginary monsters. They had almost finished when they heard footsteps approaching the shed, and the two seven year olds stiffened. There was then a knock on the door. Amelia and Rory glanced at each other, before Amelia rolled her eyes and picked her way across the shed floor, careful to avoid loose screws and nails, and opened the shed door.

"Hello, you two," Brian announced cheerily, grinning at the two children "I came to tell you that dinner's ready,"

The two children sighed, and began trying to beg for a few minutes' playtime, but Brian merely shook his head fondly.

"No, come on you two, into the house. It's getting dark anyway," he told them, steering the two children out of the shed.

It was indeed getting dark, but this did not deter Amelia; she was determined that she and Rory could finish off their adventure even though it was a rather chilly February evening. She made a small noise of protest as Brian began tugging the blue sheets off the shed.

"You can carry on playing in Rory's bedroom after dinner," Brian told the young girl, smiling fondly as Amelia pouted.

Still not completely satisfied, Amelia found herself and Rory being propelled towards the house, only stopping while Brian retrieved Rory's discarded school uniform from the ground.

"Can we really go play in my bedroom after this?" Rory asked as he slipped onto the dining room chair as Amelia did the same.

Brian nodded.

"Unless you want to watch TV, you can go upstairs and play until Sharon arrives for Amelia," Brian told them.

Amelia and Rory grinned at each other, both hoping that this would be another night where Sharon would be late. At least then they could finish their adventure.


	4. New Girl

**A/N: References some 90's games and stuff in this chapter, so there will be an explanation of them in the footnote :)**

"Now, class, we have a new student joining us today. I want you all to be very nice and polite to her," Mrs Dunn announced.

The class watched her with varying degrees of boredom. Two girls in the corner were discussing the latest issue of _Smash Hits_ in hushed tones while three boys on the opposite side of the room were playing with their Digimon Digital Monsters. Mrs Dunn cleared her throat purposefully, and the several students who hadn't been paying attention looked up. Amelia, who had been doodling drawings of the Raggedy Doctor on a piece of paper, was elbowed in the ribs by Rory, and she dropped her pencil, looking up quickly. The girl stood beside their teacher, looking surprisingly confident for someone who was just starting in an unknown school in year three. She looked to be a few months older than Amelia, and Amelia guessed that that meant she was already eight.

"Class, this is Mels Zucker," Mrs Dunn told them, surveying the class to make sure they were all paying attention this time "she's being fostered by the Carter family. I need one or two of you to take Mels under your wing and show her around the school."

There was a general air of reluctance from the group of children, many of whom continued with their previous activities. Mrs Dunn sighed, and scoured the classroom for a child who might be sensible enough to show Mels around the school properly.

"Amelia," Mrs Dunn announced suddenly, causing the little girl to look up sharply "how about you and Rory show Mels around?"

Amelia and Rory both just blinked, mouths slightly agape as they struggled to find the words to explain just _why_ they couldn't show Mels around. However, Mrs Dunn soon realised that the two children had no reason not to show the new girl around.

"Splendid!" Mrs Dunn announced, smiling "Well then, Mels, you take a seat next to Amelia there and we'll start today's lesson!"

**~StormWolf10~**

Amelia, Rory and Mels sat under the tree in the playground. It was the very same tree Rory had fallen out of just six months prior when he'd almost landed on Amelia on her first day at Leadworth Primary.

"So, what do you two do for fun?" Mels asked suddenly, glancing over at Rory and Amelia.

Rory stuttered, blushed and shrugged, while Amelia launched into an eager account of their 'Raggedy Doctor' games. Almost immediately, Mels seemed enthralled with the story, listening eagerly to Amelia's story.

"When do you think he'll come back?" Mels asked excitedly.

"I…I'm not sure," Amelia admitted, the grin fading "he promised he'd be back for me, but that was months and months ago."

The three children suddenly found themselves in silence, Rory fiddling with the zip on his coat while Amelia tugged on the sleeves of hers. Mels was sat on her coat rather than wearing it, despite the brisk March breeze.

"How come you got fostered by a family in Leadworth?" Rory asked Mels suddenly.

Mels shrugged, fiddling with her black braids as she replied.

"They…They were the first family that came up, and I met them, and they seemed nice enough. And I was quite keen to live here."

"Here?" Amelia repeated, screwing her nose up "Why here?"

Mels didn't catch their eyes, and mumbled something about how she liked to explore and there was a wood near the outskirts of the village. Just then, three girls from Amelia, Rory and Mels' class walked past, giggling and chatting together. When they saw Mels, they muttered something to one another before giggling again and rushing off. Mels merely raised an eyebrow at their behaviour.

"Was it like this for you when you were the new girl?" she asked Amelia in amusement.

Amelia nodded.

"Yeah, and people kept asking why I had a 'strange accent'." Amelia replied, rolling her eyes.

"I didn't!" Rory reminded her, wide-eyed.

"Well no, but nearly everyone else did." Amelia answered, shrugging "The trick is to not let them see if they upset you."

"Oh, they don't upset me," Mels dismissed, grinning cheekily "and if they did, your Doctor will set him straight when he comes back for you!"

Amelia and Rory grinned back. It seemed like they were going to be good friends with Mels Zucker.

**A/N 2: **_**Smash Hits**_** was a 90's pop magazine, **_**Digimon Digital Monsters**_** were **_**Tamagotchi**_** type games based on the Japanese anime **_**Digimon**_**.**


	5. Eighth birthday

**A/N: Ok, I've taken a little artistic license with this chapter as we're not actually told when Amelia and Rory's birthdays are…**

Amelia Pond woke up early, already grinning to herself. She was up and dressed in record time, and was running down the stairs barely fifteen minutes after she'd woken. As she ran into the kitchen, Amelia was a little surprised and hurt to see that Aunt Sharon wasn't already up. After a few moments, she shrugged and headed over to the fridge, pulling out the milk. She poured herself a glass of milk and had just returned the milk carton to the fridge when she saw the note stuck to the fridge with a piece of sellotape. Frowning, she pulled the note off and read it. And then she read it again. And again. Sighing, Amelia screwed the note up and threw it at the bin. It missed, and bounced off, skittering across the kitchen floor as tears welled up in Amelia's eyes. She was being irrational; it wasn't the first time Aunt Sharon had gone off on a 'business trip' early in the morning without telling her, but, well…Amelia had hoped today would be different. Shaking her head, she quickly made herself some breakfast and watched TV for a while.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Oh, hello, Amelia! I wasn't expecting you here so early!" Brian told the little girl on his doorstep.

"I could come back later if you'd prefer," she offered meekly.

"No, no. Don't be silly. Come in, Amelia. Rory's in the front room, setting up," Brian told Amelia, inviting her in.

Amelia nodded, and slipped her coat off, hanging it on the dark blue hook. As she was round the Williams' house so much, Brian had given her her own coat hook. Like Rory's, it was lower down so that she could reach it easily. Rory's hook was dark green, while Amelia picked a dark blue one as it reminded her of the Doctor. She then handed Brian the bag that had Rory's birthday present in and headed into the front room. Rory was sat cross legged on the floor blowing up balloons.

"Hi, Rory," Amelia announced, smiling at her friend as she sat down opposite him.

"Hi, Amelia," Rory replied, dropping the balloon he was attempting to blow up. He suddenly knelt up and moved round to hug her awkwardly "happy birthday,"

Amelia grinned.

"Thanks, Rory," Amelia told him, smiling.

"Is your Aunt coming later, Amelia?" Brian asked, poking his head round the sitting room door.

Amelia shrugged.

"I don't know, she had to go to London. She left a note, though," Amelia replied glumly.

Brian frowned and quickly disappeared into the kitchen, muttering about Sharon's lack of interest in her niece's life.

"How many balloons do we need?" Amelia asked suddenly, noticing that Rory had already blown several up.

Rory shrugged.

"I'm not sure. As many as we want, I suppose," Rory replied "I mean, there's only going to be three of us."

Amelia nodded. The room was decorated with 'Happy Birthday!' banners and balloons, and Amelia noticed that Rory's birthday cards were still up. Rory's birthday had been on Monday, on the 13th of May, but Rory and Amelia had decided to wait and have a joint birthday party on Saturday 18th, which happened to be Amelia's birthday. Brian had agreed to have the party at their house, due to Sharon's unreliable attendance in her niece's life, and the fact that Amelia and Rory had only wanted to invite one person; Mels. They had known Mels for just over ten weeks, but the trio had become firm friends, even if Mels was a little more rambunctious than Amelia (and a lot more than Rory). Glancing at the clock, Amelia let out a sigh of relief.

"Looks like we've still got a couple of hours before Mels arrives," Amelia commented.

Rory glanced at the clock and nodded.

"Yeah," he agreed "that'll give Dad time to hide the knives. We don't want her trying to convince us that she can sword fight again."

**~StormWolf10~**

"Go on, you two, open your presents! Mine first!" Mels demanded, grinning.

Amelia rolled her eyes, but quickly grabbed the present from Mels. Mels had been at the Williams' house for little more than fifteen minutes and Rory and Amelia were sat on the floor with her, their presents beside them while Brian sat on the sofa sipping tea. Like Amelia, Rory picked up his present from Mels, while Mels bounced excitedly beside them.

"What did you two get?" Brian asked, sitting forward as the two children tore the wrapping paper from the presents.

Both children's faces lit up upon seeing what Mels had bought them. Amelia had a sketch pad and pencils while Rory had a Batman graphic novel.

"Thanks, Mels!" Amelia exclaimed, leaning over to hug her friend.

"Yeah, thanks!" Rory chipped in, hugging her awkwardly.

Mels merely waved them off, smiling.

"It was nothing," she insisted, grinning.

The three children settled down again quickly, and Rory cautiously nudged a present towards Amelia.

"I, uh…I got you this," he told her unnecessarily, blushing slightly.

Amelia smiled, and grabbed the present, unwrapping it quickly. She gasped when she saw what it was.

"Well?" Mels demanded eagerly "What is it?"

Amelia turned the present round to show Brian and Mels. It was a framed drawing of the Raggedy Doctor and Amelia.

"I know it's not much, but…" Rory began nervously, before he was cut off by Amelia.

"I love it! Thanks, Rory!" Amelia told him, hugging him tight.

Rory smiled, feeling rather proud of himself for getting it right. It had taken him days to get the drawing right, and he'd even had to get Mels to 'borrow' some of Amelia's Raggedy Doctor drawings so he could get it just right. Of course, Mels being Mels, he had a sneaking suspicion that she hadn't actually returned the drawings yet.

**~StormWolf10~**

Almost three hours later, Mels, Rory and Amelia were all wearing cardboard party hats and were happily tucking into their birthday tea. Brian had thought it best just to do a buffet, particularly as he knew that Mels could eat an awful lot. However, by the time they'd finished eating tea, the Carters showed up to collect Mels.

"Bye then, you two," Mels told her two friends, waving as she was reluctantly led away by her foster parents.

"Bye," Amelia and Rory chorused "thanks for the presents!"

As Rory shut the door and he and Amelia headed back into the front room, he saw that his Dad was clearing up the remnants of the party games. Mels had, naturally, gotten a little overexcited, and the party games had included several Raggedy Doctor games with monsters that included moving statues and tiny people that lived inside robot replicas of humans (that adventure had even included Hitler, until Brian put his foot down. Apparently, he wasn't an appropriate character in a children's game, much to Mels' dismay).

"Did you two have a good time?" Brian asked as the children sat down on the sofa.

"Yes, thanks, Dad," Rory replied, just as Amelia nodded eagerly and chimed in with a "Yeah! Thanks, Brian!"

Brian smiled and straightened up.

"Amelia, did your Aunt say what time she'd be back?" Brian asked the little girl.

Amelia thought hard for a few moments before shaking her head. Brian sighed before forcing himself to smile.

"Well then," he announced "how about a sleepover?"


	6. Final Warning

**A/N: Ok, I have planned out most of the chapters for this now, but I may add a few more if ideas strike me :) As ever, read and review.**

"I keep telling you," Mels insisted, arms folded as she rolled her eyes at the incompetence of the head teacher "the Doctor _is_ real!"

Mr Parsons sighed.

"We've been through this before, Miss Zucker," he announced with an air of calmness that he certainly did not feel "and as we've told your friend Miss Pond, please stop these silly stories!"

Mels glared at the head teacher.

"Go on, Mels," Mr Parsons told her, nodding towards the door "and this is your final warning. No more Doctor stories!"

Mels spun on her heel and stormed out of the office, barely noticing a rather annoyed Amelia waiting outside the office with her arms folded. Amelia hurried to catch up with her friend as Mels headed out to the playground.

"How did it go?" Rory asked as they found him sat under the tree.

The trio had adopted that spot as their own, ever since Rory had fallen out of that very same tree just over a year ago. Mels glared at her friend and flopped onto the grass, sprawled out on her back. Amelia rolled her eyes and sat beside their friend.

"How do you think?" Amelia asked Rory, annoyed.

Rory sighed.

"Again, Mels?" he asked.

Mels didn't reply.

"Mr Parsons said that this was her final warning." Amelia explained to Rory "Next time it could be detention," Amelia raised her voice so she was sure that Mels would hear "or worse."

Mels remained glaring up at the sky.

"Mels, you do realise that if the Carters find out about this, they might stop fostering you?" Rory pointed out quietly.

There was still no reply, but both Rory and Amelia knew that Mels understood the repercussions of her actions very well. Mels had been in trouble numerous times at school since arriving in Leadworth just over seven months ago, many of the problems being caused by how she had latched onto Amelia's stories of the Raggedy Doctor and had seemingly become coming up with her own wild stories. However, the Carters certainly didn't appreciate Mels 'inventing' these stories, which had even led to an argument with Amelia's Aunt Sharon- on one of the rare occasions she could actually be tracked down- as they complained that 'Amelia Pond is corrupting our foster daughter'. The Carters had been called into school no less than seven times since the beginning of term five weeks ago. Both Rory and Amelia were sure that the Carters would approach breaking point soon, and they really didn't want to see their friend being whisked away to another foster family in a different village; Mels needed them there to keep her out of trouble.

"I just don't understand!" Mels shouted suddenly, attracting the attention of some nearby year threes, who quickly scampered away from the trio of year fours "The Doctor _is_ real! How do they think we're still alive?"

"Mels," Amelia sighed "it…It doesn't matter if some stupid teachers don't believe us. We know he's real. And Brian believes us too, and that's all that matters!"

"It's alright for you," Mels grumbled, arms folded again "you never have to listen to the adults complaining about it."

Amelia and Rory decided not to dignify that with an answer. It was at that moment that Rory realised that Mels hadn't bothered putting her jumper on and there was a rather brisk autumnal breeze.

"Put your jumper on, Mels," Rory told his friend "else you'll be moaning when you catch a cold."

"What if I don't want to put it on?" Mels answered quickly, glancing over at her friends.

"Then we don't want to hear you complaining when you come down with a cold." Amelia replied calmly.

Mels rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath about how she liked the cold, but she sat up and tugged her jumper from around her waist, slipping it on.

"There you go, _Mum_, _Dad_," Mels told her friends, glaring at them before flopping back into the grass.

"Oi!" Amelia protested loudly, causing Rory to jump "We are _not_ your parents!"

"Whatever you say," Mels told them, smirking.

"We're not!" Amelia protested "Stop it, Mels! Tell her, Rory, tell her! We're not your parents! Besides, you're older than us by…by nearly four months! And me and Rory…Like that…No! Just…No!"

Mels giggled at that, while Rory looked slightly hurt.

"Well, there's no need to sound so disgusted about it!" Rory muttered.

"But it is disgusting!" Amelia protested.

Rory blushed, not realising he could be heard.

"I mean, we'd…We'd have to share a bed!" Amelia pointed out, pulling a face "And we'd see each other naked!"

Rory's face fell at that, and he too pulled a face, screwing his nose up at the thought of having to do…_married things_ with his best friend. Mels laughed at her friends.

"You'll have to do it eventually, you know," Mels told her friends, still smirking.

"Nuh uh!" Amelia insisted "I'm _never_ getting married! And I'm certainly not sharing a bed with a man and…And his tentacles!"

This only made Mels laugh louder as it was Rory who this time let out a protesting "Oi!"

"And," Amelia continued "whoever said me and Rory would be _married_?"

"Yeah!" Rory chipped in, attempting to look as disgusted as Amelia sounded, and failing miserably.

Mels just shook her head.

"You will be," she vowed to her friends, standing up as the head teacher rang the bell to signal the end of break time.

As Rory and Amelia stood up too, they decided to ignore Mels' last comment. Together, they began heading back towards the school to line up.

"Just remember, Mels," Amelia reminded their friend as they joined the end of the line "Mr Parsons said that was your final warning."

"Yeah, just try and keep quiet, ok?" Rory added.

Mels rolled her eyes.

"You two worry too much," she told them, smiling "I'll be fine."


	7. Quite a Handful

**A/N: Sorry it's taken so long! As I said before, I've planned out a load of chapters, so they're all ready to be typed up, but I might add a few more if an idea strikes me.**

"Rory?" Brian called as he hung up the phone "I need to have a talk with you."

There was a noise upstairs, and soon Rory came hurrying down the stairs, almost bumping into Brian, who was now stood at the foot of the stairs.

"Yes, Dad?" Rory asked, looking up at his Dad from under his dark blonde fringe.

Brian made a mental note to get his son's hair cut.

"As you might have heard at school today, the Carters have decided to stop fostering Mels." Brian began carefully.

Rory nodded seriously, looking up at his father. Even at eight years old he was so grown up, Brian mused.

"Well, we have the spare room, and I was wondering if you'd be opposed to me fostering her for a while?" Brian asked his son.

Rory smiled slightly, and he nodded quickly. Brian smiled at his son.

"I'll call the social worker." Brian announced, reaching for the phone again.

**~StormWolf10~**

Mels Zucker, Brian decided, never made a subtle entrance. She all but barrelled through the front door of the Williams residence, grinning, as her social worker followed a little more warily.

"Now, Mr Williams, are you a hundred percent sure about this?" the social worker asked Brian uncertainly.

Brian smiled, and went to respond, but was cut off by Mels.

"Of course he's sure!" Mels declared as she hugged Rory hello.

"It'll be fine," Brian assured the social worker, chuckling slightly.

"Well, she can be quite a handful. Take my card, and give us a ring if you need anything," the social worker replied as she set Mels' suitcase down.

She handed Brian a card and bid them goodbye, seeing herself out. Brian suddenly felt a tug on his arm, and looked down to see Mels grinning at him.

"Can we go and see if Amelia wants to come round to play?" she asked with a cheeky grin.

Brian nodded, watching as Mels grabbed Rory by the arm and dragged him from the house. Well, Brian mused, at least Mels was less likely to blow something up if Rory and Amelia were with her.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Brian," Mels announced suddenly, hovering in the kitchen doorway "can I ask you something?"

Brian mentally rolled his eyes. He'd only been fostering the girl for a week and a half, but he knew the girl well enough to know that she wanted to do something…dangerous.

"What, Mels?" Brian asked, offering the girl a weak smile.

"Can you teach me to bake?"

Brian blinked. That was the last thing he'd expected young Mels Zucker to come out with. The girl was loud, energetic, hyper, and infuriating at times, and she wanted to learn how to bake?! With a frown, Brian dropped his paper onto the kitchen table and looked at the girl carefully.

"Why do you want to do that, Mels?" he asked cautiously.

Brian steeled himself, expecting the girl to reveal some plan to cause a cooking class at school to go wrong, or set fire to one of the ovens. But instead, Mels just shrugged.

"I'm bored." She replied "And I want cake."

Brian watched her for another few seconds before replying.

"Where are Rory and Amelia?"

"They're doing homework." Mels replied, wrinkling her nose up at the thought.

"And shouldn't _you_ be doing homework too?" Brian asked.

"Nah," Mels answered casually "I've already done mine. Wasn't hard. We had to write about a holiday we've been on."

"Oh, yes?" Brian asked "What are Rory and Amelia writing about?"

"When you took them to the beach in the summer holidays." Mels answered with a grin.

"And what did you write about?"

"About when the Doctor took me to see the Ice Age." Mels replied.

Brian blinked. He paused for a few more moments before sighing and getting to his feet.

"Come on, then," he told her, ushering Mels over to him "let's make a start on this cake."

**~StormWolf10~**

Rory and Amelia stood in the kitchen doorway, surveying the scene wryly. Both of them were clutching their homework in their hands, intending on asking Brian if he thought it was ok before they handed it in the next day. However, they'd returned downstairs to find the kitchen in…Well, a bit of a state. The walls, floor, counters and Brian were all covered in cake mixture, and Brian was looking far from impressed. Mels was sat at the kitchen table, seemingly oblivious to the mess she'd caused, and was happily licking out the mixing bowl.

"I see you've done some baking, then," Amelia piped up with a grin.

Mels grinned back at her friends while Brian sighed.

"Sometimes, Mels, I underestimate just how difficult you can be." Brian told the girl as he set to work cleaning up the mess "But I think it's safe to say you're quite a handful!"


	8. Psychiatrist

**A/N: Another chapter! Aren't you lucky? Read and Review!**

Amelia Pond sat, pouting. Her arms were folded across her chest, and she was doing her utmost best not to appear too comfy on the large squishy sofa. The eight year old had quite literally been forced her against her will by her Aunt Sharon, and no matter how much Amelia had begged, pleaded, kicked, screamed and bitten, Aunt Sharon would not let her leave again.

"So, Amelia," the middle-aged man sat across from her announced, a kind smile on his face "your Aunt tells me you have an imaginary friend?"

"He's not imaginary!" Amelia spat back, glaring at the man.

She watched as he made a note on a pad of paper, but try as she might, Amelia couldn't read what he'd written. The man was, of course, a psychiatrist. His name was Doctor Green, but Amelia refused to call him 'Doctor' because he wasn't _her_ Doctor. That was to say, he wasn't the _right_ Doctor, he wasn't _the_ Doctor. Amelia had tried to explain it to her Aunt as best she could, but the woman remained sceptical and promptly told the girl that Doctor Green _was_ her Doctor, he _was_ the right Doctor, and he _was_ 'the' Doctor.

"Ok, Amelia," 'Doctor' Green continued "why don't you explain to me about your…_friend_, then?"

"His name is the Doctor, and he crash-landed in my garden over a year ago now." Amelia replied, still unsure whether to trust this man.

"Doctor what?" Doctor Green asked as he made notes.

"Just the Doctor."

"Just 'the Doctor'?" Doctor Green echoed sceptically.

Amelia huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Yes! Just the Doctor!"

"Ok," Doctor Green replied slowly, making some more notes "and how did he 'crash-land' in your garden?"

"He crashed in this big blue box. It's his space ship." Amelia answered.

"A big blue box?" Green echoed, surveying the girl carefully "And how does a big blue box fly around without getting noticed?"

"Well, I don't know," Amelia admitted, shoulders slumping slightly.

"Uh huh," Green murmured as he jotted more things down "so why would this 'Doctor' fly around in a big blue box?"

"To save people." Amelia answered simply, shrugging.

"And how do you know he does that?" Green asked.

"Because he's called the Doctor." Amelia replied with a roll of her eyes "Doctors help people, and they save lives." She then paused, looking Doctor Green over before continuing "Well, they're _meant_ to help people."

Doctor Green stilled for a few moments, looking up at that. Amelia stared back at him and, slightly flustered, the man returned to his note-taking.

"But that doesn't mean he helps people. Lots of people are 'Doctors', Amelia. They have what we call a doctorate. What makes you think this…_friend_ of yours was here to save people?"

"Because he fixed the crack in my wall." Amelia told him exasperatedly.

Doctor Green blinked and looked up at the girl again.

"And why would you need a Doctor to fix the crack in your wall?" he asked quietly.

Amelia stared back at the man, face draining of colour and green eyes becoming wide. He watched as she tugged at her skirt and gripped the edge of the sofa in her hands.

"Because there was something in the crack." Amelia answered; voice soft now "Something there. Something in my mind. A voice. Always the same voice…"

"What did the voice say, Amelia?" Green asked the girl gently, leaning forward.

"It said 'Prisoner Zero has escaped'." Amelia replied.

**~StormWolf10~**

"It appears that your niece has been hearing voices in her wall," Doctor Green explained to Amelia's Aunt Sharon carefully "through a crack."

Sharon blinked.

"Well, what can we do to stop it?" she asked with a frown.

"I suggest we continue with the weekly sessions for now, and see if Amelia improves. If not, I suggest we start her on medication." Green answered.

Doctor Green paused for a few moments before speaking again, against his better judgement.

"Amelia was telling me that, the night this 'Doctor' crashed in your garden, you'd left her home alone."

Sharon spluttered at that, desperately trying to form a reply, but before she could, Green continued.

"She told me the most fantastical tale about how she cooked him bacon, beans, toast. How she fed him yoghurt and an apple, and how the Doctor was disgusted at all of those things. She then went on to tell me that they ate fish fingers and custard, which, unlike the other food, the Doctor ate without complaint. This 'Doctor' then went upstairs and fixed the crack in her wall, and when he did so, the voices stopped."

"Where are you going with this?" Sharon asked angrily.

Amelia watched the exchange in interest, hovering between the two adults.

"I think that your negligence of your niece may have been what led young Amelia to create the voices in her head, as well as an imaginary friend who would then save her from the voices and make her feel safe again." Green replied.

"The Doctor's not imaginary!" Amelia protested, shocking both adults, as they'd obviously forgotten she was there.

"Now, Amelia," Green replied calmly "how else would you explain that a Doctor crash landed in your garden in a big blue box?"

Amelia stared at the man for a full three seconds before glaring at him. Amelia Pond hadn't been in many fights in her lifetime, but she knew one thing she was very good at. And so, Amelia Pond bit Doctor Green on the arm.


	9. School Disco

**A/N: Another chapter :) A while after the last, as they're nine in this one. Also, the Mr Parsons is the Head teacher from the chapter 'Final Warning'**

"Come on, Rory!" Amelia sighed, tugging at the boy's arm.

Rory, however, stayed in the corner of the room, shaking his head vigorously. Amelia pouted at her friend, and she bit back a smile as she saw his resolve crumble a little.

"Please?" she asked again, making sure to pout even more "Just one dance?"

"I don't dance, Amelia!" Rory protested, backing himself further into the corner, as if he were willing the wall to swallow him whole.

"It's not _proper_ dancing!" Amelia told the boy with an exasperated sigh "Just look at Mels!"

Mels was currently right in the middle of the throng of year fives, dancing wildly and waving her arms about. If she wasn't careful, she was going to hit someone in the face soon.

"But that's Mels." Rory replied dryly "She's always like that, school disco or not."

"Just…Please, Rory? For me?"

Rory sighed, and finally allowed Amelia to tug him across the school hall.

**~StormWolf10~**

"See?" Amelia announced to Rory five minutes later as they headed to the edge of the room again "It wasn't that bad."

"I suppose," Rory agreed quietly.

The pair slid down to sit on the floor, their backs against the cold painted brick wall. They watched as the rest of year five milled around, drinking fizzy drinks, buying sweets, laughing and joking with their friends. Mels suddenly appeared, grinning at them as she slid down the wall to sit beside them.

"I managed to get these," Mels whispered, leaning over so no one else would hear "wanna share them?"

Rory and Amelia watched as Mels pulled a small paper bag from the pocket of her denim skirt. Amelia rolled her eyes while Rory hid his face in his hands.

"What?" Mels asked, feigning ignorance.

"You stole them, didn't you?" Amelia asked accusingly, although she was tempted to take a sweet.

"Might have, might not," Mels replied with a shrug, tucking into the back.

"Mels, you can't go round stealing sweets!" Rory told the girl "What's next? Mr Parsons' Mini Cooper?"

Mels frowned at that, looking up at Rory in confusion.

"Why would I want to steal a Mini Cooper?" Mels asked in disbelief "If I was going to steal a car, it would be something good, like a Ferrari, or a Bentley…Or a bus!"

"Why would you steal a bus?" Amelia and Rory asked in unison, brows furrowed.

"Because then I could refuse to let Mr Peters on it, _duh_!" Mels answered, as if it were obvious.

Mr Peters was a middle-aged man who drove the bus around Leadworth. The children couldn't really understand why they needed a bus that just went around Leadworth, but Brian had said that it was something to do with the fact it meant the old people could get out and down to the village shop on their own. Mels had had a grudge against Mr Peters ever since he threw her off the bus when he realised she'd gotten on without paying.

Rory shook his head, sighing.

"The point is, Mels, you have to stop taking things that aren't yours! If you didn't have any money, you should have asked. Me and Amelia could have leant you some money, right, Amelia?"

Amelia nodded and Mels glared at them, folding her arms. She'd been in her new foster home for several weeks now, having moved numerous times in the last fourteen months. She'd only been with Brian and Rory for a few weeks before she'd been moved to Mr and Mrs Jones', but from then on, she'd moved every few months. The problem was, Mels didn't like any of her foster families. Well, except Brian, but she'd always known that would only be temporary.

"_Fine_, Mum, Dad." Mels retorted, although there was a faint smirk as she referred to Rory and Amelia as her parents "I won't steal any more sweets."

"Why do you keep calling us your parents?" Amelia asked, scrunching her nose up.

"Well, if you _will_ insist on telling me off all the time…" Mels trailed off with a grin, examining her finger nails.

"We wouldn't have to if you didn't insist on getting into trouble all the time." Rory muttered with a sigh.

"Oh, look at Rory all grown up!" Mels laughed "Seriously, just stick a tie on him and he thinks he's an adult!"

Rory glared at Mels, fingering the thin black tie he was wearing. Of course, he knew Mels was only joking, but the statement still annoyed him. It wasn't his fault he had to act like an adult; if Mels didn't keep getting into trouble, he wouldn't have to tell her off and remind her of the rules, and sometimes Amelia wasn't much help either. The trio descended into silence, watching the rest of their classmates laugh and joke and dance together, not even noticing that Amelia, Rory and Mels were sitting out. Mr Parsons, however, had noticed. He sighed, wondering whether to intervene and ask if they were alright. The three of them had always been outcasts, Mr Parsons remembered, and no one ever payed them much attention. Rory was often quiet, and he wasn't quite as willing as some of the other boys, like Jeff and Mark for instance, to get into a rough-and-tumble game of rugby at break time. It had been somewhat of a blessing when Amelia arrived at the school; no one really wanted to interact with the new girl with the strange accent, and once she'd started spouting stories about her Raggedy Doctor, well, everyone avoided her that little bit more. Mels, of course, was an outcast because she'd _made_ herself one; she preferred to be set apart from the rest of them, with her outrageous adventures and loud voice. And yet, somehow, this little group of outcasts had found each other, and become friends. And somehow, _somehow_, it… _Worked_.


	10. Detention

**A/N: Mels is such good fun to write! And yeah, she comes across as a little cruel sometimes, but…Well, I think that's just her, isn't it? ;)**

"We could climb out the window," Mels suggested, climbing up onto the low cupboards that lined the wall to peer out of the window "the drainpipe's right there."

"Or," Amelia told her friend, turning to face her for the first time since the whole fiasco had started "we can sit down, write out a letter of apology each and go home."

Mels scoffed, jumping off the cupboard.

"You've gotten boring, Amelia," Mels told her friend as she sat on the desk in front of her "I think Rory's been rubbing off on you."

"Rory isn't boring!" Amelia defended the absent boy immediately.

Mels smirked.

"But you never used to have a problem with me talking about the Doctor at school." Mels pointed out.

"Mels," Amelia sighed "I still don't have a problem with you talking about the Doctor at school. What I _do_ have a problem with is you using him to threaten other people!"

Mels rolled her eyes.

"So what? You were gonna let Maddie Lewis carry on about how the Doctor isn't real?" Mels asked, already knowing her friend's answer.

"Well, no," Amelia admitted quietly "but-"

"But what?" Mels interrupted "What were you going to do?"

"I don't know," Amelia retorted angrily, defeated "but whatever it was wouldn't have landed us in detention! I'd have, I dunno, told her all about the Doctor, and if she still didn't believe me… Well, that's her loss, isn't it?"

Mels shook her head, chuckling.

"Don't you understand, Amelia?" Mels asked, her tone slightly sad now "No one ever believes us about the Doctor because they're too narrow-minded. The only way they'll ever believe us is if they meet him."

Amelia opened her mouth to reply, but the door to the classroom suddenly opened, and Mr Parsons came in.

"Please sit in a seat and not on a table, Miss Zucker," he told the girl wearily.

Mels huffed, but slid off the table and took up a seat beside Amelia.

"Now," Mr Parsons continued with a sigh "you two girls both need to write Maddie Lewis a letter of apology for what you did to her."

Mels rolled her eyes while Amelia nodded.

"Why?" Mels complained.

"Because you threatened, and I quote, to 'call the Doctor here and get him to throw you in a black hole'." Mr Parsons replied calmly.

Mels sniggered slightly at that, earning her a glare from both the teacher and her friend.

"This is a very serious matter, Miss Zucker," Mr Parsons warned her "we do not take threats on another student's life lightly. You are very lucky that you only have a few weeks before you leave this school, else I fear you may have ended up being excluded."

"Like I need school anyway," Mels muttered.

"And why would you not need school?" Mr Parsons asked, eyebrow raised.

"Because I'm going to travel with the Doctor," Mels answered exasperatedly.

There was a pause as Mr Parsons studied the girl for several moments.

"Quite." He replied eventually, evidently unsure what else to say "Now, Miss Pond, you must apologise to Maddie Lewis also, for pulling her hair when she tried to walk away from the argument."

"I didn't mean to!" Amelia protested, although she could tell by now that it was useless.

She sighed and nodded at the Head teacher, picking up her pen as Mr Parsons handed the girls some paper.

"I'll be back to check on you shortly." He told them as he left the room.

Once the door was shut, Mels looked up, dropping her pen onto the desk. Amelia glanced up at her friend, frowning slightly before returning to writing her letter.

"You need to write it, you know," Amelia told her friend with a sigh.

"I know," Mels replied, a small smile on her face "I'm just deciding what to write."

Amelia glanced over at Mels again, slightly confused by the girl's sudden willingness. Not wanting to cause any more trouble, Amelia quickly returned to her own letter.

**~StormWolf10~**

Twenty-five minutes later, the detention was over. Mr Parsons collected the letters from the two girls and sent them on their way. He headed back to his office to read through the letters before giving them to Mrs Lewis tomorrow. He read Amelia's first and, satisfied that it was a decent apology, set the letter to one side. When he picked up Mels', the first thing he noticed was that the paper was a little crumpled. Shaking his head, he began to read the letter.

_Dear Maddie Lewis_

_I have to write this letter to you because you tattled on me and now I'm in detention. I'm meant to apologise to you about the threat. So, I'm sorry. I'm sure the Doctor won't return and throw you into a black hole. Actually, I don't think he's ever thrown anyone into a black hole. He might abandon you on some distant planet, though, and leave you to starve. Or he might just hand you over to the Shadow Proclamation, but I'm not sure they have a department that deals with stupidity. But anyway, back to the point. I'm sorry I said the Doctor would throw you into a black hole, because, to be honest, the other things I've mentioned are far more likely to happen than that. Also, I'm very very sorry that your small, narrow-minded self cannot understand or believe in the Doctor. That's your loss._

_Mels Zucker_

Mr Parsons shook his at the letter, unsure what to say. Mels Zucker, it seemed, was far more intelligent than they gave her credit for, Mr Parsons mused. Besides, she _had_ written a letter of apology, it just seemed to be apologising for Maddie's so-called 'narrow-minded self' instead. With a sigh, he tossed the letter into the bin.


	11. Pond, Amy Pond

**A/N: This is a somewhat shorter chapter…Sorry about that, but..yeah….**

"Doctor Jensen's ready for you now."

The twelve year old sighed, getting to her feet and heading into the psychiatrist's office.

"Hello, and you are?" Doctor Jensen prompted, smiling reassuringly at the girl in her doorway.

"Pond, Amy Pond." Amy replied, face impassive.

"Well, pleased to meet you, Amy," Doctor Jensen told her with a smile "take a seat on the sofa over there."

Amy did as she was told, and she was soon joined by the female psychiatrist.

"Now, I understand you've been to a psychiatrist before, yes?"

Amy nodded.

"And why did you stop going? It says in my notes that you seem to think you have an imaginary friend called the Doctor."

"I stopped going because Doctor Green got fed up with me biting him all the time. And the Doctor isn't imaginary." Amy replied coolly.

Doctor Jensen blinked, her smile faltering slightly.

"Right," Jensen replied slowly, flipping through Amy's file again "now, Amelia-"

"It's Amy." Amy broke in, still watching the woman carefully.

"But Amelia's such a lovely name," Jensen told the girl with a slight smile "I'd love to be called Amelia Pond."

"It's a bit fairytale, don't you think?" Amy asked bitterly.

Again, Jensen blinked, unsure how to reply to the girl.

"Anyway, _Amy_," Doctor Jensen continued eventually "why do you think you have a friend called the Doctor?"

"Because I _know_ I have a friend called the Doctor." Amy retorted with a roll of her eyes.

"But you haven't seen him since you were seven, right?" Jensen probed carefully.

Amy stiffened, and reluctantly nodded. Jensen swore she heard the girl mutter a devastated 'He said five minutes', but she couldn't be sure.

"Well, Amy, how do you know that this 'Doctor' isn't just someone you made up?"

"Why would I make him up?" Amy asked, brow furrowing.

"Well, it says in your file that your Aunt is often away on business. Maybe you invented this 'Doctor' to make you feel safe and cared for, making him the one adult you felt you could rely on."

"I believe in Brian too." Amy replied quietly.

"Ah, yes, Brian Williams. You're friends with his son Rory, yes?"

Amy looked up in shock at that.

"It's all in the file," Jensen answered the girl's unspoken question, raising the file slightly as she spoke.

"Rory is my best friend," Amy replied carefully "he was the only one who would talk to me when I moved to Leadworth."

"Well, maybe you created the Doctor to fit in with that?" Doctor Jensen questioned "So that you'd have a loving friend and a loving guardian too?"

Amy scoffed and shook her head, looking away.

"You're wrong." She muttered.

"You say he crash-landed in a big blue box. You live in a small English village, surely someone would have noticed a massive box falling out of the sky," Jensen pointed out to the girl.

"Not if they weren't looking." Amy countered quickly.

"Amy, how do you explain that this 'Doctor' crash-landed in your garden without anyone else noticing?" Doctor Jensen asked the girl, leaning forward, urging the girl to understand.

"How do _you_ explain our destroyed garden shed?"

Doctor Jensen sighed in frustration, slumping back against the sofa. Amy Pond was infuriating, and they seemed to be getting nowhere.

"Amy," Doctor Jensen tried again, encouraging the girl to look at her "you have to understand that I'm trying to help you."

"Then why are you trying to tell me the Doctor isn't real?" Amy asked quietly, defiant.

"Because you are twelve years old and convinced that this 'Raggedy Doctor' of yours exists. It's becoming an obsession, and it's not healthy."

Amy merely looked away.


	12. Amelia Pond, Biter

**A/N: New chapter! Such fun! Hope you enjoy, read and review :)**

"Where's Doctor Jensen?" Amy asked in confusion as she stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"I'm afraid Doctor Jensen has, uh, moved." The man replied with a reassuring smile "I'll be taking over your therapy sessions."

Amy watched the man warily, unsure about him.

"I'm Doctor Foster, by the way." Doctor Foster added, still smiling.

Amy didn't reply, and Foster's smile began slipping. Finally, after a minute or so, Amy spoke again.

"Am I having a therapy session today, or can I go back to class?"

As arranged, Amy had three therapy sessions a week, one of them being during school time. This meant that her therapist came into school to see her, something Amy hated as it just reminded everyone that her Aunt thought she needed a psychiatrist.

"Yes, yes, come in! Have a seat!" Doctor Foster announced with a grin, gesturing at an office chair.

Amy crossed to it, dumping her back and sliding into the seat, swinging in it ever so slightly. They were in the Nurse's office, across the corridor from the actual First Aid room, and they were rarely interrupted during their time there. Amy watched as Foster jotted down a few notes on his pad of paper before reaching for her file.

"It says here that your name is Amelia, but you prefer Amy, yes?" Foster asked, looking over the rim of his glasses at her.

Amy nodded soundlessly, still watching him carefully.

"Well, then, Amy," Foster started as he dropped the file back onto the desk and leant forward on his chair "why don't you tell me what you're doing in class at the moment?"

Amy blinked, not expecting that question. Her previous two psychiatrists had launched straight into questioning her sanity and asking about the Doctor. Knocked off-kilter, Amy stuttered slightly and found herself desperately trying to recall what they were currently doing in History.

"Well, uh, we're learning about Romans…" she began uncertainly, not really sure what to say.

"And are you enjoying it?"

Amy nodded.

"It's alright. More interesting than what we're doing in geography." She replied with a shrug.

"And what are you doing in geography?" Foster hinted.

"Some boring local heritage thing." Amy answered dismissively.

"Why do you enjoy history, Amy?"

Again, Amy shrugged.

"I find it interesting, I suppose. Like, I enjoy finding out how they lived back then and stuff. It's the closest thing I'll ever have to actually experiencing it." Amy replied.

"So you don't think you'll be going with this Raggedy Doctor anytime soon?" Foster asked, pen poised above paper.

Amy's head shot up, and she looked at the man with wide eyed.

"It's in the file, remember?" he reminded her, nodding at the folder on the table.

"Well," Amy began again, voice quiet "I don't really think the Doctor's coming back anytime soon."

"And why's that?" Foster asked, tone gentle.

"Because he said he'd only be five minutes." Amy answered bitterly, biting her lip.

Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She would not cry. Not here. Not in front of this man.

"You still believe in him, then?" Foster asked with a hint of disapproval.

"Of course I do! He's real!" Amy protested quickly, glaring at the man.

"And yet you're the only person who's ever seen him, he didn't come back after five minutes like he said he would, and he left you with no proof he existed." Foster told the girl, urging her to understand "I'm sorry, Amy, I really am; you seem to have so much faith in this man, from what I've gathered from this file, but is it possible you dreamt him?"

"No!" Amy yelled suddenly, on her feet with her hands slammed on the desk "Not possible!"

"Amy, please try and calm down, I just want to help you." Foster said calmly as he got up and made his way round the desk to the now-trembling girl.

Amy however glared at him, wrenching herself back as he went to lay a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Now come on, Amelia." Foster berated. Amy glared at the use of her full first name "We are trying to help you. Something we can't do until you admit that you've gotten caught up in your own lies."

Amy glared defiantly at the man for one, two, three seconds, seeing his hand reaching for her again. And then, before the man could react, she grabbed his hand and sank her teeth into it.

**~StormWolf10~**

"You bit him?!" Mels asked incredulously, laughing in delight.

"Yes." Amy replied quietly as she glared stubbornly at the opposite wall, arms folded across her chest.

"Oh, not again, Amy." Rory sighed.

This was Amy's third psychiatrist, and the third one she'd bitten. Truth be told, it was probably why Doctor Jensen had moved to a small GP practice in Wales; she'd obviously gotten tired of constantly being bitten by the stubborn teenager.

"It gets worse." Amy told them suddenly, still quiet.

"Amy, he's in there ranting to the Head Teacher! How can it get worse?" Rory asked in disbelief.

"I saw him write something, while I was being… _removed_ from the room." Amy admitted, looking up at Rory with wide eyes "This is it. They're gonna send me to a hospital or something, aren't they?"

"I'm sure that won't happen, Amy." Rory assured his friend gently as he pulled her in for a hug.

The three teenagers sat in silence as the situation weighed heavily on them. Even Mels for once was sombre, recognising the importance of the situation. Then, against her better judgement, she spoke.

"Well then, we need to get hold of that pad of paper before anyone else sees it."

Rory and Amy looked at Mels incredulously.

"Look, that way nothing bad will happen to Amy, no one else will have the chance to read it!" Mels continued, staring intently at Rory.

"And what will you do with it?" Rory asked sceptically.

Mels shrugged.

"Burn it. Shred it. Flush it down the loo. I dunno." She replied with a wave of her hand.

"Well, how do we get it? If you haven't noticed, they're still in the office!" Amy whispered furiously at Mels.

The psychiatrist was still ranting and yelling at the Head Teacher who, from what they could hear, was desperately trying to calm him down. Mels' eyes sparkled at Amy's question.

"I'll cause a distraction, Rory, you run in there and rip the page out, ok?"

Rory let out a slightly high squeak, causing both girls to look at him strangely. Clearing his throat and muttering something about his voice breaking, Rory instead just nodded, and prepared himself to run into the office. With a grin, Mels got up and walked over to the fire extinguisher from the wall. She then gave a cheeky salute and ran off, yelling. They suddenly heard a hissing noise, and then a lot of yelling. Both the Head Teacher and Doctor Foster came running out of the office.

"What's going on?" Mr Clark, the Head Teacher demanded.

"Mels got hold of a fire extinguisher, sir." Rory replied.

With a muttered curse, the Head Teacher set off down the corridor, Doctor Foster on his heels. Wasting no time, Rory quickly slid into the office, ripping the page out of the pad of paper and stuffed it in his pocket.

**~StormWolf10~**

"You got the paper, yeah?" Mels asked, somewhat breathlessly as she caught Amy and Rory up on their way home from school.

Rory and Amy both stopped walking and just blinked at the girl. She was covered from head to toe in what they could only assume was the foam from the fire extinguisher. Mutely, Rory nodded.

"Good." She replied, satisfied.

"Didn't Mr Clark want to see you in his office?" Amy asked her friend, recalling a red-faced, extremely angry Mr Clark hurriedly dismissing her and Rory before yelling down the corridor at Mels to go to his office.

Mels just scrunched up her nose.

"Didn't want to go." The girl replied calmly.

"I don't think it was a voluntary thing, Mels." Rory told his friend, frowning slightly.

Mels shrugged.

"Ah, well. School's over now. He can catch me tomorrow." Mels answered with a grin.

Rory and Amy shook their heads, laughing to themselves.

"What does it say, then?" Mels asked suddenly, startling her two friends.

"What does what say?" Amy asked in confusion.

"The piece of paper." Mels reminded them. At their blank expressions, she then sighed "You haven't read it, have you?"

Both Rory and Amy shook their heads again. Mels held her hand out to Rory.

"Well?" she prompted when the boy just looked at her "Hand it over."

Rory fumbled in his pocket, pulling out the crumpled piece of paper. Mels unfolded it, read it, blinked, and laughed.

"What?" Rory and Amy chorused in confusion.

Mels just continued laughing, almost doubled up.

"What?!" Amy and Rory repeated.

Mels still didn't reply, and Amy ripped the paper from her friend's hand. She read it. And blinked.

"Well," Rory announced, reading it over Amy's shoulder "I don't think they'll send you to a hospital for _that_."

"Oh, shut up!" Amy groused, glaring slightly at her friend.

She still held the paper in her hands. The paper with only three words on it.

_Amelia Pond. Biter._


	13. Spare Room

**A/N: Another chapter :) We only have roughly 7 chapters left… :P**

Brian Williams sighed. It was nearing ten o'clock, and Amy was still at their house. He didn't mind, of course, and it was a Friday night so the kids didn't have school the next day, but it still annoyed him when Aunt Sharon failed to pick her daughter up.

"I'm off now," Amy announced suddenly as she appeared at Brian's side.

Brian blinked and looked at the girl. Now thirteen, Amy had grown a lot since that shy, lonely little girl he'd met in the playground of Leadworth Primary. Now quite tall and skinny, she was beginning to wear makeup, and had grown her hair long. Her stories about the Raggedy Doctor had begun to cease, and Brian was surprised to find that he _missed them_. Because Amelia Pond had always seemed so much more cheerful when talking about her imaginary friend. Brian quickly pulled himself from his thoughts as Amy began to pull her coat on.

"Is your Aunt home?" Brian asked.

Amy shrugged as she zipped up her coat.

"Not sure," she admitted "doesn't matter though. I've got a key."

"No, no, no," Brian protested forcefully "you're not going home and staying there on your own."

"In case you hadn't noticed, Brian, I'm getting a little old for sleepovers." Amy told him with a wry smile.

Brian grimaced and thought hard as Rory came padding out the front room.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking from his Dad to his friend in confusion.

"Nothing," Amy replied with a smile "I just told your Dad I'm heading home."

"Take the spare room." Brian announced suddenly, startling the two teenagers.

"Sorry?" Amy asked in shock.

"We have the spare room. We don't use it, and I'd much rather you were here than at home on your own." Brian told the girl, forcing a cheery smile.

"You don't have to, Brian. I've been at home alone before." Amy assured the man with a smile.

"I know," Brian replied, jaw clenching slightly at the reminder of Sharon's incompetence to care for her own niece "but I'd still rather have you here. Like I said, we don't use the spare room."

Amy hesitated for a few more moments before nodding, a smile of relief spreading across her face.

"I'll just go change the bed sheets for you, then." Brian told the girl with a smile.

As Brian disappeared up the stairs, Amy shrugged off her coat, hanging it back up.

"Are you sure this is no bother?" Amy asked Rory uncertainly.

Rory shrugged.

"Dad seems fine with it. And my step-Mum's on a business trip, so I don't see why not." Rory answered.

Rory knew for a fact that Amy didn't like his step-Mum. She was a nice enough woman, if a little strict, but Amy often referred to her as 'the monster'. Still, Brian seemed happy so Rory got along with her.

"So," Rory announced after a few moments "what shall we do now?"

**~StormWolf10~**

"Amy?"

Amy looked up in shock to see a somewhat bleary-eyed Rory in the doorway, wearing a thin pair of pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt, his dressing gown thrown on over the top.

"Oh, hi, Rory." She replied with a slight smile.

"Why are you up at" Rory paused, looking at the kitchen clock "two thirty am?"

"Couldn't sleep." Amy admitted with a sigh.

"Nightmare?" Rory asked, crossing the room to his friend.

Amy shook her head.

"Not exactly." She replied as she sipped at her glass of water.

"Wanna talk about it?" Rory questioned.

Amy shrugged, arms going around herself in a protective fashion, rumpling the borrowed t-shirt she was wearing to sleep in. It was one of Rory's t-shirts, a Chelsea FC top from an Uncle who didn't seem to realise Rory really wasn't the sporty type. Not being able to look at Rory, Amy quickly busied herself with washing her glass out. Once that was done, she leant against the kitchen counter and the pair lapsed into an awkward silence. After a minute or so, Rory spoke again.

"Is the bed alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's great." Amy answered, nodding furiously.

"Good." Rory replied quietly "Good. Else you could have my bed."

Both teenagers froze as they realised what that could mean.

"I… I mean I'd take the bed in the spare room. You could have my bed and I'd sleep in the spare room!" Rory hastily clarified, wide-eyed and stuttering.

Amy swallowed and nodded, also wide-eyed. The pair were soon back into the awkward silence.

"It was about you." Amy said suddenly, quiet.

"I'm sorry?" Rory asked, frowning.

"The dream. It was about you. And your Dad, and Mels." Amy explained, voice soft and eyes distant "You…You all left me. Like my Raggedy Doctor. Just…Up and left me. Not even a note. Just… Just 'I'll be right back'. And then you never came back. I searched for you. In my dream, I searched for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere, any of you, and when I tried to ask people…They didn't know who you were. They'd forgotten about you. Like… Like you were just a drawing someone had rubbed out, erased. As if you'd never existed…"

"I'm right here, Amy." Rory told the girl quietly.

He reached over and, awkwardly, placed a reassuring hand on the girl's now-trembling shoulder. She smiled weakly at her friend and moved closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. She didn't seem to notice Rory swallow hard, or if she did, she didn't mention it.

"I have no plans to leave you anytime soon," Rory continued "and I'd certainly never just leave you. And I'm no drawing that can just be… _Erased_."

Amy rewarded him with another smile, stronger this time.

"I know," She told him quietly, head still on his shoulder "I know."


	14. Career Paths

**A/N: Because Mels had to say it somewhere… **

"Now, Rory," Mrs Leigh the careers teacher began "I understand that you want to be a doctor, yes?"

Rory nodded, fidgeting slightly on the uncomfortable plastic chair.

"Well," Mrs Leigh continued, looking at the piece of paper with Rory's grades on "I'm afraid you might not have high enough grades for that, but I'm sure you could become a nurse instead."

Rory slumped in his chair slightly, sighing as he thought hard.

"Do you think people would be proud of me if I became a nurse?" Rory asked quietly, looking at Mrs Leigh. "I mean, do you think my _friends_ will be proud of me?"

Mrs Leigh smiled at the boy. The fifteen year old boy really wasn't as subtle as he thought he was, and nearly all the adults in Leadworth- and a good portion of the teenagers- knew that Rory Williams was completely infatuated with Amy Pond. Of course, the girl seemed oblivious, and several of their teachers had admitted to sometimes wanting to bang the two children's heads together to make them see sense.

"I'm sure your friends will be _very_ proud of you, Rory. Your parents, too." Mrs Leigh assured the boy gently.

Rory managed a weak smile, and nodded.

"What would I have to do, to be a nurse?" Rory asked, leaning forward.

"Well, you'll have to do some training, of course, but not as much as you would need to become a Doctor. Then, I'm sure we could find you a place at the Royal Leadworth." Mrs Leigh explained.

Again, Rory nodded, but still looked a little upset. He'd wanted to be a Doctor for years now, ever since he was eight or nine. He'd wanted to give Amy a real Doctor to look up to, to believe in. And now, it looked like he had failed.

"There are some leaflets here," Mrs Leigh continued, handing over several leaflets and booklets "about the studies you would have to undertake and what specialist areas you can go into, and such."

Rory took the leaflets and slid them into his backpack. Smiling weakly again, he got to his feet and left the room.

**~StormWolf10~**

"This is stupid."

"Now, Mels," Mrs Leigh told the girl with a sigh "it's not stupid. We're trying to help you get on the right career path. What would you like to do when you're older?"

"I've already told you, I'm going to travel." Mels huffed, sick of repeating herself.

"But you'll need a job first." Mrs Leigh replied calmly. "Now, how about a college course?"

"I don't need a job, and I don't need a college course."

"Well then," Mrs Leigh told her, beginning to grow annoyed with the girl "how do you suppose you'll fund all this travelling if you haven't earned any money?"

Mels rolled her eyes.

"The Doctor, of course!"

"Oh yes. The infamous Doctor." Mrs Leigh sighed.

She watched Mels carefully for a few moments before speaking again.

"You do realise that you're the only one who believes in him now?" Mrs Leigh asked the girl gently "Even Amelia's come to her senses."

"She doesn't like being called Amelia. And she hasn't come to her senses. All those psychiatrists have messed with her head." Mels muttered bitterly.

"All those psychiatrists are helping her." Mrs Leigh replied calmly "It's just a shame she keeps biting them and scaring them off."

Mels smirked slightly at that.

"So come on, Mels," Mrs Leigh continued suddenly, leaning forward in her chair "what do you want to do with your life?"

Mels looked up, meeting the middle-aged woman's eyes.

"I want to prove all of you wrong."

Mrs Leigh blinked, brow furrowing.

"I want to prove all of you wrong, and show you that the Doctor is real." Mels continued "I want to make Amy realise that she's right, that there's nothing mad or imaginary about our Doctor. I want to make her realise that, even though she lost the Doctor, she found something better."

"Oh? And what is that?" Mrs Leigh questioned in confusion.

Mels smiled softly; an action that shocked the older woman, as Mels was usually grinning manically or glaring petulantly.

"She found Rory."

Mrs Leigh smiled slightly.

"For a moment, I thought you were going to say yourself." Mrs Leigh admitted.

Mels merely grinned, her usual manic grin back on her face as she stood up.

"Well, I am pretty excellent," the girl conceded "but she and Rory haven't really found me yet."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Mrs Leigh asked, brow furrowing as Mels headed for the door.

Mels flashed another grin over her shoulder as she slipped out of the door.

"Spoilers!"

As the door swung shut behind the fifteen year old, Mrs Leigh shook her head. Mels Zucker was something of a mystery to them.

**~StormWolf10~ **

"How about a teaching assistant? You got on well at the Primary school during your work experience." Mrs Leigh suggested gently.

Amy merely blinked in response, staring at the woman for a few moments before shrugging.

"Or a journalist, maybe? Miss Lane says you're always happy to write essays and reports in English."

Again, the girl just shrugged. Mrs Leigh sighed.

"There must be something you want to do, Amelia." Mrs Leigh told the girl exasperatedly.

"I don't know." Amy admitted quietly, shrugging for a third time.

"Well, is there anything you want the job to do for you? As in, what you want to get out of it?" Mrs Leigh hinted calmly.

Amy frowned slightly as she thought hard. A minute or so later, she nodded distractedly.

"I… I want to feel in control." She admitted softly, meeting the woman's eyes.

"Of your career?" Mrs Leigh hinted again.

Amy shook her head.

"No." she replied "Of my life."

This time, it was Mrs Leigh's turn to merely blink in response. Unsure what to say, the teacher opened her mouth, before closing it again, unable to form any response.

"Well," she began a few moments later, causing Amy to look at her "journalism might make you feel like that."

Amy snorted softly and gazed at an invisible mark on the opposite wall. In truth, she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She didn't even understand her life now. As each day passed, she got older, and as she got older, she got wiser. Her Raggedy Doctor wasn't coming back. It had been eight years and three psychiatrists, and Amy was finally beginning to draw the conclusion that- just as her therapists had said- she'd created the Raggedy Doctor to feel loved, to feel safe and cared for. And now she was realising that he wasn't real, and she'd never felt more alone. She still dreamt of him some nights, sat in the kitchen with a bowl of custard and some fish fingers. It had all seemed so real. She'd smelled the smoke from his crashed spaceship, she'd felt the fabric of his charred and torn shirt beneath her fingers, she'd felt the droplets of water fall onto her as he towelled off his floppy, wet hair. And yet he didn't exist. He surely didn't exist, else he'd have come back by now. And so she, Amelia Jessica Pond, had to get on with her life. The question was; how?

"Amy?" Mrs Leigh prompted gently, urging the girl back to the present.

"Hmm?" Amy asked in confusion.

"Shall I put you down for a journalism course?" Mrs Leigh asked.

Amy scrunched up her nose slightly, but nodded anyway.

"Yeah. Whatever."

She then slid from the seat and left the room.


	15. Prom Date

**A/N: Another chapter :) Not long left now :)**

"What d'you mean you're not going to Prom?!"

"I _mean_" Amy repeated exasperatedly "I'm _not_ going."

"Why not?"

Amy sighed, glaring at Mels, who was sprawled on her bed. Aunt Sharon had disappeared again, and Mels had swanned in barely ten minutes before, flopping down on Amy's bed and making herself at home.

"_Because_."

"That's not an answer, you know." Mels announced calmly, throwing a paper ball back and forth between her hands.

"Just leave it, Mels." Amy sighed, flopping down on the bed beside her friend.

They stayed like that for several minutes before Mels spoke again.

"Is it because your Aunt won't pay for a dress?"

"No. Just leave it."

"Is it because you think everyone will laugh at us, and we'll be at a table on our own? Because that happens every lunch time, it won't be anything new." Mels continued.

"No. Just drop it."

"Touchy." Mels muttered.

"If you must know," Amy began quietly after a minute or so "it's because I won't have a Prom date."

"I won't have a Prom date either," Mels pointed out casually.

"Yeah, but I just thought, with Rory…" Amy trailed off, shrugging.

Mels grinned wolfishly, and suddenly sat up.

"You wanna go with Rory!" Mels sing-songed with a wicked grin.

Amy opened her mouth to protest, but couldn't form the words. After another two failed attempts she merely shrugged.

"I dunno." Amy replied, feigning indifference "Jeff's pretty hot too."

"So you think Rory's hot?" Mels asked, smirking.

Amy's eyes widened and she shook her head quickly.

"No!" she protested.

"So you think he's ugly?"

"I didn't say that, Mels!"

"Didn't say what?"

Both girls froze at the voice, and slowly turned to see Rory stood in the doorway of Amy's bedroom. He was frowning in confusion, and both girls quickly chorused 'Nothing!' Still a bit suspicious, Rory slunk over and dropped into the chair, twiddling his thumbs nervously. He opened his mouth, closed it again, leant forward and sat back. Both Amy and Mels had known Rory long enough now to know that he wanted to ask something, but was too awkward.

"So," he announced suddenly, "are you two going to Prom?"

"Yes!" Mels answered, just as Amy yelled "No!"

Rory's face fell, but he covered it quickly and nodded.

"Right." He murmured "Right."

"Rory?" Amy prompted, brow furrowed.

"It doesn't matter." The boy told them, forcing a smile.

"No, go on, something's evidently bothering you." Amy told him, getting up from the bed to sit on the floor beside his chair.

Suddenly feeling very uncertain about being up higher than Amy, with her looking up at him, Rory slid to the floor and sat opposite her. His knees were to his chest in a somewhat protective gesture, his face half obscured by his knees. In fact, all Amy could see was his nose and eyes, although even they were partially obscured beneath a mousy brown fringe. His hair had been getting darker for the past three years now, going from blonde to light brown. Amy liked it.

"You need your fringe cut again." Amy told him, reaching over to attempt to brush his fringe from his eyes.

Rory nodded slightly, humming in agreement.

"Anyway," Amy continued "what was it you wanted to say?"

"It's just… I thought… I was wondering if, if you were going to Prom, if you wanted to… To go with me?" Rory asked meekly.

Then, before Amy could reply, he continued.

"Not that it matters, of course, because you're not going. I'm not going either, actually; I was only going to go if you went. And Mels would probably end up coming with us too."

Mels flashed him a thumbs up from where she was still sat on the bed, and they noticed she was being uncharacteristically quiet.

"Rory," Amy began uncertainly "I'd… I _would_ like to go to Prom with you."

"But?"

"But what?" Amy asked in confusion.

"I sense a 'but' coming." Rory replied sadly.

"There's no 'but' coming, Rory." She assured her friend gently, causing him to sit up a little straighter.

"You'll… You'll go to Prom with me?" he asked nervously, although a small smile was beginning to spread across his face.

"Yeah." Amy assured him, smiling softly.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Go on, you two, a little closer together please," Brian announced with a grin.

A little shuffling later, Rory and Amy were stood side by side in the Williams' front garden. They were meant to be heading to Prom, but Brian was insisting on some last-minute photos of the pair of them. Both teenagers had made an effort for Prom, with Amy in a dark green, floor-length dress and high heeled sandals while Rory had been adamant about renting a tuxedo. He'd even combed his hair back and out of his eyes.

"Is Mels coming?" Brian asked once he'd finished taking photos.

"She said she'd find her own way there." Amy replied, grimacing.

"In which case, I'm sure the sound of Police sirens will alert us when she arrives." Rory added dryly.

**~StormWolf10~**

Amy flopped into her bed with a sigh. She was exhausted but it had been a good night. Rory had been very insistent that they had a professional photo taken at Prom, of just the two of them, and then Mels joined them for another photo. Both of the photos were now stuck to Amy's bedroom wall, and every time she looked at the one of the three of them, she couldn't help but laugh. Mels looked a little frayed around the edges, as she'd gone trooping through a load of flower beds outside the hotel their Prom was in for no reason other than being bored. No one had seemed that surprised though, when Mels clomped through the door with streaks of dirt on her dark blue dress. Rory had merely rolled his eyes and headed over to steer the girl back to their table. As Amy tiredly tugged the duvet over herself, she couldn't help but smile at how perfect Rory had been that night. The other boys had laughed at him when he'd pulled Amy's chair out for her, or when he'd danced with her during the slow song at the end of the night. But Amy had thought it was sweet. Rory was the bestest friend she could ask for, and he was such a sweet guy, Amy mused. It was a shame he was gay.


	16. Psychiatrist 4

**A/N: Slightly shorter chapter here… Anyway, read and review! Only four chapters left after this…**

"_Please_, Amelia." Doctor Marsden sighed "I have been treating you for almost six months now and you still haven't opened up to me."

"You've been treating me for almost six months," Amy echoed, arms folded across her chest "and you _still_ haven't gotten my name right. For the last time, it's _Amy_."

Doctor Marsden was Amy's fourth psychiatrist. She'd managed to last almost four years without one, after she'd bitten the rather unsuspecting Doctor Foster during their first session, but Aunt Sharon had suddenly deemed it necessary to send Amy to another psychiatrist. In fact, Amy was rather certain that the reason she'd been signed up to Doctor Marsden was because her Aunt Sharon had caught her getting all nostalgic over some drawings she'd found of her Raggedy Doctor.

"Amy," Doctor Marsden began again "please just talk to me."

"About what?" Amy asked sceptically, looking over at the man.

"Anything." Marsden responded "What you're up to, what you want to do, anything."

"You're not my friend. We're not here to chat."

"No," Marsden agreed "but I'm here to counsel you and you won't let me do that, either."

**~StormWolf10~**

The next fifteen minutes of the session dragged by, with Doctor Marsden desperately trying to start a conversation with Amy while the stubborn seventeen year old stared defiantly at the wall.

"You know, Amy," Marsden announced calmly after a while "there really is no point in you being here if you won't talk to me."

Amy sat up a little straighter at that, green eyes lighting up.

"Yeah?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yes." Doctor Marsden replied levelly "Although you seem unwilling to talk about anything, your reluctance to talk about your 'Raggedy Doctor' suggests that you've lost faith in him."

Amy's face fell slightly at that as the words sank in. She'd lost faith in her Raggedy Doctor. The man who had saved her life, made her realise that there were adults other than Brian Williams who cared for her. Because, truthfully, sometimes Amy had wondered whether there was something specific about her that made people hate her. Even her teachers had seemed a little strained towards her. They didn't talk about her behind her back like her classmates- although, Amy was certain she had been the topic of the staff room more than once- but she supposed that was because they were paid to be nice to her.

"I… I suppose so." Amy admitted quietly, shell-shocked.

How could she have lost faith in her Raggedy Doctor? _Her_ Raggedy Doctor, with his fish fingers and custard, and ability to fix the crack in her bedroom wall, her Raggedy Doctor who made her feel safe for the first time in months- years… But then again, he'd said five minutes. He'd left her. Just like her parents had. Amy couldn't even _remember_ her parents, not properly anyway. And Aunt Sharon left her on a regular basis, buggering off to London, or Manchester, or Aberystwyth at the drop of a hat, leaving nothing more than a hastily scribbled note and £20 for food.

"Well then," Doctor Marsden continued, dropping the clipboard onto the desk "I think that concludes our session. I'll just go and let your Aunt know that you will no longer need these sessions."

Amy nodded mutely as Doctor Marsden stood and left the room. She was vaguely aware of him talking to Aunt Sharon outside, but Amy couldn't be bothered to listen. She was still too wrapped up in the fact that she'd well and truly given up on her Raggedy Doctor. At some point, Amy had been steered out of the office and outside to her Aunt Sharon's car, but she really couldn't remember any of that. When they finally pulled up outside their house, they saw Rory waiting nervously on the front step. Sharon rolled her eyes, and Amy hurried over to her friend.

"Hey," she greeted him, smiling slightly.

"How did it go?" Rory asked quickly.

He then took in Amy's slightly depressed expression and sighed.

"Please tell me you didn't bite him again, Amy," Rory begged.

"Oi!" Amy protested "I didn't bite anyone! Think I'm a little too old for that now."

Rory nodded in agreement.

"So, what happened?" Rory prompted.

"She's finally gotten over that silly imaginary friend of hers, that's what's happened." Sharon announced, nudging past the two seventeen year olds to unlock the front door.

As Sharon disappeared into the house, Rory looked back at Amy.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?"

He sounded a little unsure and, to be honest, Amy could blame him. She forced a smile and nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose it is." She replied.

With a smile, Rory tugged her in for a hug, one that Amy accepted gratefully. And with that, the last remnants of Amelia Pond's childhood crumbled away.


	17. Legal Age

**A/N: Rory's present to Amy in this chapter came about because I couldn't really see who else would have bought it for her- her Aunt Sharon was more than willing to leave her at home on her own when she was 7, so I doubt she'd be the one to buy Amy jewellery…**

"Mels!" Amy protested upon seeing what her friend had pulled from her bag.

"Oh, stop panicking, Amy! You're legal age!" Mels replied with a smirk.

"Well, yeah, but…" Amy trailed off with a shrug.

"Oh, don't tell me you wanna be one of those tea-totallers!" Mels sighed, frowning "Loosen up, Amy. Even Rory's already had a drink!"

It was true. Rory had gone out with Brian the night of his birthday to the only pub in Leadworth, as a celebration. Granted Rory had only had one drink, and he'd then gone home as he'd invited Amy round due to her not being legally old enough to drink yet.

"Just one." Mels urged, pressing the bottle of vodka into Amy's hand "To celebrate. You're not eighteen every day."

Still a bit uncertain, Amy led her friend through to the kitchen, heading to the cabinet where they kept the glasses. She pulled two out and opened the bottle of vodka, beginning to pour it. All the while, she kept one eye on Mels, hoping the girl would stop her when she'd poured enough. Sure enough, Mels was soon pulling the bottle away from Amy, reaching for one of the glasses.

"So," Mels announced as she took a sip of her drink "when's Rory getting here?"

"He said he'd be here by seven," Amy replied, frowning slightly as Mels took another sip of her vodka. "Aren't you supposed to have vodka with other stuff, not on its own?"

Mels shrugged.

"If you wanna be a wimp, yeah." Mels responded.

Amy still looked sceptical, and Mels sighed before downing the last of her vodka.

"Amy, lighten up, will you? You can drink vodka on its own." Mels told her, rolling her eyes.

"I _would_ like to remember my eighteenth birthday, Mels." Amy told her friend.

"Why?" Mels asked in confusion, pouring herself some more vodka "No one else ever does."

"Just because you don't remember yours!" Amy pointed out, laughing slightly.

Mels was a few months older than Rory and Amy, but had still insisted on getting drunk on her birthday. Amy had- after some pleading from Mels- had a glass of wine, and Rory had had a bottle of lager, but Mels had gotten really drunk. They'd been at Amy's house as her Aunt Sharon had disappeared again, and they'd had to walk Mels back home to her foster home as Rory had been reluctant to drive after he'd had a lager. Mels couldn't really remember much else, so Amy and Rory had decided not to mention that she'd thrown up on Mrs Poggit's begonias.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Mels asked, nodding towards Amy's untouched glass of vodka.

Wide-eyed, Amy took a sip, and almost immediately began coughing.

"Yeah, it can take a bit of getting used to." Mels told her, patting her on the back "It can be a bit strong."

"A bit?!" Amy echoed, eyes watering.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"It's probably Rory. I'll get it." Mels announced, hurrying out of the kitchen.

Amy wiped at her still-watering eyes as she finally managed to stop coughing. She'd had a few drinks before, of course, but that had only ever been the odd glass of wine, or a sip or two of Rory's lager. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad on the second sip, Amy mused. Just then, Rory appeared in the kitchen doorway, a gift bag in his hand.

"Ah. Mels has already broken out the vodka, then?" Rory noted with a grim look.

Amy nodded, and Rory surveyed the glasses they were using uncertainly.

"And by the looks of it, she didn't bring shot glasses." He added.

"Oh, relax!" Mels announced, appearing behind Rory "It's not like we're filling the glasses all the way to the top!"

"Knowing you, you would." Rory muttered, before returning his attention to Amy. "Anyway, happy eighteenth!"

He handed Amy the gift bag, and hovered nervously by her as she opened the gift bag and pulled out a rectangular, flat box. He bit his lip as she opened it.

"Is it ok?" Rory asked nervously as Amy merely gaped at the necklace he'd bought her.

"I love it!" Amy told him sincerely, grinning and quickly hugging him.

Rory smiled back, blushing slightly when Amy kissed him on the cheek before pulling away. Mels smirked at him while Amy lifted the necklace- a simple silver chain with the letter 'A' on it- from the box.

"Can you help me put it on?" she asked him nervously, handing him the necklace before pulling her hair up off her neck.

**~StormWolf10~**

"We really need to tidy up." Rory gasped out once he'd finally managed to stop laughing.

"Oh, spoilsport!" Mels laughed, pouting.

At some point during the evening, they had moved from the kitchen upstairs to Amy's bedroom. They'd drunk the bottle of vodka Mels had bought, but luckily Brian had thought to pick up some cans of beer and lager for Rory to take round. As a result, Amy's bedroom floor was now strewn with carrier bags, cardboard packaging and empty beer cans.

"Oh, it'll be fine!" Amy slurred, still giggling slightly "Aunt Sharon said not to expect her back for at least three days, and she never comes in my room anyway."

The three of them descended into silence, all lost in their own little worlds. Every now and then, one of them would begin giggling, which would set the other two off, even though they had no idea what they were laughing at. Finally, Rory heaved a sigh and pushed himself to his feet.

"I should really get going." He told the two girls, although his words were slightly slurred.

Mels laughed as she watched Rory try to make his way across the bedroom to pick up his discarded jacket. He was weaving from side to side, evidently having a hard time staying upright.

"Oh, Rory!" Amy laughed as her best friend leant heavily on her bedroom wall "You can't go home like that!"

"I'll be fine!" he insisted, although his eyes weren't quite focussed when he looked at her "Besides, I'm training to be a nurse!"

Both girls began giggling again.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mels hooted, laughing even more.

Rory's brow furrowed for a few moments before he spoke.

"I'm not really sure." He admitted.

Then, with a grin, he managed to stumble over to Amy's chair collapsing into it.

"I _am_ going home in a minute." Rory announced, although more to himself than to Amy and Mels.

"I'm not." Mels admitted, still giggling slightly "Think I'm just gonna sleep here."

"Fine by me." Amy told her friend, watching as Mels proceeded to just pass out on the carpet.

Both Amy and Rory watched for a few moments, expecting Mels to suddenly sit up, laughing at them for thinking she'd passed out. But when she didn't move, the pair soon realised she'd quickly fallen asleep.

"I think I drunk _far_ too much." Rory admitted suddenly, voice soft so he wouldn't wake the suddenly-snoring Mels.

"Me too." Amy sighed, flopping down on her bed "I had fun though."

"Yeah." Rory agreed quietly, eyes fluttering shut.

He then jumped as he felt something hit him, and opened his eyes quickly. Amy was giggling at him from her bed, and he looked down to see a blanket on his lap. She'd obviously thrown it at him, and he smiled thankfully at her.

"Thought you'd need it." Amy told him with a smile "Don't want you getting cold during the night."

Rory merely nodded, choosing to keep his mouth shut and not mention that if he did get cold during the night, he'd much rather snuggle up in bed with her rather than use a blanket. His eyes began to grow heavy again, and he slid further down in the chair, tugging the tangled blanket up over himself. Within minutes, Rory was asleep, snoring softly, and Amy had to stifle a giggle. She was drunk, of course, but not as drunk as she could have been, and Amy was extremely grateful that she'd only had two cans of lager, else she feared she and Rory would have ended up in the same bed. Not that it would have made any difference to Rory, of course, because he was gay. But she, on the other hand, wouldn't have been able to sleep the whole night… Mentally shaking herself, Amy sighed and lay down in her bed. It wouldn't have made any difference to Rory, but it would have made all the difference to her. Because finally, Amy Pond had come to realise that she had _very_ deep feelings for her gay best friend.


	18. Arguments

**A/N: Because, no matter how much of a push over some people think Rory was, I doubt he'd have just **_**let**_** Amy become a kiss-o-gram… Rating increased to 'T'. Also, this may be my new favourite chapter…**

"It's not like that, Rory!" Amy protested loudly, infuriated "You're making this seem far worse than it is!"

"I'm not, and you know it!" Rory replied quickly, watching as Amy paced the room "What happens if someone gets a little too _drunk_, a little too _excited_, a little too _confident_? What will happen to _you_, huh? You might as well just offer yourself up to them on a plate! What if you get beaten up on the way home, or someone takes advantage of you?"

Amy rolled her eyes.

"Oh, stop _overreacting_! That won't happen to me, and certainly not in Leadworth!" Amy replied, stopping her pacing to glare at her friend.

"But your… _Clients,_" Rory spat out, hating using that word to refer for the people Amy would be…working for "they won't always be from Leadworth. It could be Stag parties, Office parties, twenty-one year old blokes' birthday parties, from anywhere within a ten mile radius of this village…"

Rory trailed off, taking a deep breath before continuing, his eyes imploring his friend to understand.

"I _know_ you don't think these things will happen to you, Amy, but they _do_ happen. I've not even been working at the Hospital long and I've already seen several cases of things like this. People get a little too drunk, a little too _grabby_ at parties, and when the victim tries to pull away, tries to make them stop, they find themselves on the receiving end of a right hook, of a knife or a blade. They get hurt, Amy. Sometimes just bruises, sometimes…Sometimes life-changing injuries. And all because they flaunted themselves a little too much, wore a little too much makeup or laughed a little too hard at some cheesy joke, and people thought that they were…That they were _up for it_."

Amy was suddenly studying her sock-clad feet intently, refusing to look at her friend. He was right of course. Her Rory, he was always so logical, always so right, but right now Amy hated him for it. So, instead of trying to defend her potential job, she decided to go down a different route.

"Is this just your way of rubbing it in that you're a Nurse now?" Amy asked bitterly, glaring at him.

Rory looked momentarily taken aback by Amy's bitter tone, but was soon shaking his head furiously.

"No! No, not at all, Amy. This is my way of trying to convince you not to make a huge mistake!" Rory answered, wide-eyed.

"'A huge mistake'?" Amy echoed, brow furrowing "So, what, I'm incapable of choosing my own profession?"

"Of course not," Rory sighed, quickly becoming annoyed at how he couldn't seem to word what he wanted to say properly "I just don't understand why you want to be a _kiss-o-gram_ of all things! You could be doing something so great, Amy! Like being a journalist or a teacher…"

"You mean a _nice_, _safe_ job that doesn't involve drunk, grabby blokes?" Amy interrupted, staring her friend down "A job in an office, where _I'll be safe_?"

"Yes."

Amy blinked, not expecting Rory to be so honest in his answer. She'd been expecting stuttering, furious backpedalling, a hastily repeated 'no!', anything but a 'yes'.

"Sorry?" Amy asked in confusion.

"Yes, I want you to take a safe job." Rory repeated, standing up from where he'd been seated on Amy's bed to stand face-to-face with her "Because that way, I won't have to be the one to identify your body because you've been brutally raped and killed in a dark alleyway behind a pub and your Aunt Sharon can't be found. Because that way, every time we get a new admittance to the hospital, a young girl matching your description and signs of abuse and violence from 'a kiss-o-gram job gone awry', I won't be worrying it's you. Because that way, I won't lose you, Amelia Pond."

The two teenagers merely stared at each other for a few moments, both breathing heavily as the anger coursed through them. Finally, Rory broke the silence.

"I need to get to work."

And, before Amy could reply, he grabbed the rucksack with his scrubs in and hurried from the room.

**~StormWolf10~**

As Rory finished stuffing his rucksack into his locker, he sighed. Pushing the door shut and locking it, he leant his forehead against the cool metal. He hated having arguments with Amy, he really did, but sometimes she could be so stubborn, and she didn't always understand that she could end up hurt. Rory cared for her so, so much, and he would do anything to protect her. In fact sometimes, Rory decided bitterly, he cared for her _too_ much. Because Amy Pond would never love him. She was beautiful, she had a gorgeous smile, a lovely laugh that would put a smile on even the most depressed man's face. She was perfect in every way and he was… Well, he was _Rory_. The slightly geeky-looking, graphic novel loving, sandy-haired, big-nosed guy who had only ever become friends with the wonderful Amelia Pond because he almost fell on top of her when he fell out of a tree. He knew he wasn't the text-book definition of handsome, he knew he was lanky, that he wasn't into sports, that he didn't have a six-pack, that his hair was more of a mousy-brown that flopped pathetically over his forehead. He knew that there was no way a guy like him, an average-looking trainee nurse, would ever get a beautiful girl like Amy Pond. Maybe it was time he stopped trying. With a deep breath, Rory straightened up and headed out of the room, ready to start his shift.

**~StormWolf10~**

Amy Pond lay on her bed, glaring resolutely at the ceiling. She wished Rory would stop being so over-protective of her! Although, she supposed reluctantly, he was only looking out for her and he did have a point. But that wasn't going to stop her from taking this job. She was nearly nineteen. She could look after herself. She'd been looking after herself for years, what with Aunt Sharon always disappearing… She knew Rory meant well, and she loved him for it, but she needed to live her own life. She wouldn't always have her wonderful, gay best friend (whom she loved dearly with all her heart, but would never tell him because she would just look stupid, seeing as he evidently wasn't interested in her. Or other girls, for that matter.) to look out for her. She needed to make her own way in the world. Amy recalled, years ago now, speaking to Mrs Leigh the careers advisor at school. Amy remembered telling her that she wanted to feel in control of her life. And what better way than a kiss-o-gram? A kiss-o-gram got to wear loads of different outfits, hide behind different personas and costumes, become a different person every night. And they got to kiss loads of fit guys. Of course, they also had to kiss loads of average guys, and loads of lower-than-average guys. They had to kiss older people, younger people, men, women. But that didn't bother Amy. Because _she_ wouldn't be kissing them. The kiss-o-gram they'd hired would. And that kiss-o-gram would be dressed as a French maid, or a Police woman, or a pirate, or whatever other strange fetish the person who was paying had asked for. And anyway, Amy had been good at drama at school. Surely the job couldn't be that bad?

**~StormWolf10~**

Rory was just finishing his shift and heading to the locker rooms to get changed again when he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and saw that it was Amy, looking around the hospital ward in confusion. She spotted him, and smiled meekly, waving uncertainly at him. With a frown, Rory hurried over, grabbing her arm and leading her out of the ward.

"What are you doing here?" he asked worriedly "Are you hurt?"

"No, no, I'm fine." Amy told him, smiling nervously "I just came to apologise about earlier."

Rory blinked.

"Does this mean you're not taking the job?" he asked.

Almost immediately, he saw Amy's jaw clench.

"I'm still taking the job." She responded calmly, ignoring him when he huffed "I have to, Rory."

"Why?" Rory asked "Why that job? Why not any other job?"

"Because it will make me feel in control. I get to initiate everything, I'm the one who decides what I'm gonna do to them. There'll be no client demanding things from me. And anyway, I'll be acting the whole time. I'll be in costumes, Rory, it's not like they'll be kissing _me_. Just a character I've made up." Amy told him.

Rory still looked uncertain, and he rubbed at his eyes.

"I just don't want you getting hurt." He told her quietly.

"I won't get hurt. I promise."

"It's not something you can just promise though, Amy! You could be drugged, or ganged up on, or any number of things! You can't promise me you won't get hurt, because what if something happens and you _do_ get hurt?" Rory asked, eyes flashing with anger.

"Then you can fix me up." Amy attempted to joke, but Rory merely stared back.

"It's not that simple, Amy." Rory snapped, voice rising.

They were being stared at by other hospital staff, and with an angry sigh, Rory dragged Amy towards the locker room, shutting the door behind them.

"Amy, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm just a trainee nurse who's working on the coma ward. I can't magically fix you up if someone decides to rape you after one of your 'sessions', I can't repair any psychological damage you might get from this job."

Rory shook his head, looking away for a few moments.

"I'm not your Raggedy Doctor, Amy. I can't just whisk you away if things go wrong with this…. This _job_ of yours. If things go wrong with this job, I won't be able to fix it, not if you get seriously hurt, or raped, or…" Rory trailed off, taking a deep breath "I want to protect you, Amy, but you have to understand that I stopped trying to be your imaginary friend a long, long time ago now."

Amy blinked in confusion, brow furrowing.

"What do you mean?" she asked weakly.

"I mean that sometimes, I think you look at me and you don't see me at all. You see your Raggedy Doctor." Rory admitted quietly "And, a few years ago, I would have let you continue seeing that. Did you know that the only reason I went into nursing was because I didn't have high enough grades to become a doctor? And that I only wanted to become a doctor so that you'd have a real doctor to look up to, and not an imaginary one? At the time, it seemed like such a brilliant idea, but now I'm not so sure. Now, I have to wonder if I made the worst mistake of my life. Because I can't live up to this wonderful, big, important Raggedy Doctor you created, Amy. It's just not possible. Because I can't protect you from everything, I can't make you feel safe and secure all the time. Not like the Raggedy Doctor did. Because you made him so, so big that I could never compare to him. I might as well stop trying."

Rory turned away then, heading to his locker and unlocking it, pulling his rucksack out.

"Rory, please!" Amy begged suddenly, rushing to his side.

Rory looked round to see that Amy's eyes were wide and tear-filled, and his heart almost broke at the sight.

"There must be something I can do!" Amy continued weakly.

"You know what." Rory told her "Please don't take the job."

"I… I can't do that, Rory." Amy told him, biting her lip.

Rory took a deep breath, and for a moment, Amy thought that that was it. Their friendship was over. She had destroyed it. She watched worriedly as Rory stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before his eyes shut briefly.

"Then please, _please_ don't make me regret this, Amy." Rory murmured eventually.

Amy blinked.

"I can take the job?" she asked, wide-eyed and shocked.

Rory nodded, and Amy didn't fail to notice the pained expression on his face.

"Just _please_ be careful." He begged her "And always take your mobile with you. And money for a taxi. And if you ever, _ever_ find that you can't get a taxi and need a lift home, call me and not Mels. Even if I'm on shift, I'll sort something out for you. I'll… I'll get Dad to pick you up instead, yeah? Don't take any lifts from anyone except me or Dad. Even Mels. Because she's likely to steal the car she'd pick you up in."

Amy gave a weak smile at that, nodding, and Rory pulled her in for a hug.

"And please, if anything ever goes wrong, come straight to me. Whether someone hit you, or threatened you or whatever. Come straight to me." He murmured.

Rory felt Amy nod against him, and then she pulled back slightly, looking at him.

"What would you do?" Amy asked quietly "If someone hurt me, I mean? Could you _really_ hurt them? You _are_ a nurse, after all."

"To save you, Amelia Pond," Rory responded, kissing her lightly on the forehead "I could do anything."


	19. Belated Realisations

**A/N: First part is from 'Let's Kill Hitler'. I've had to take a little artistic licence here, as they're apparently only 17 in this chapter (Amy- "I've know you for, what, ten years?") but Rory wouldn't be working as a nurse at age 17, and they're already nineteen in this. So, this happens a few months before the Doctor finally returns :)**

**Revised 11/06/13**

"It's all right for you." Mels groused as she lay on Amy's bed, playing with a paper mache version of the Raggedy Doctor's blue box "You've got Mister Perfect keeping you right."

"He's not even real. Just a stupid dream when I was a kid." Amy replied, glaring at Mels.

"No, I wasn't talking about him." Mels answered, looking significantly over at Rory, who had stood up and hefted his rucksack onto his back as he got ready to head home.

"What, Rory? How have I got Rory?" Amy asked in confusion, brow furrowed.

"Yeah, how, how's she got me?" Rory asked, equally confused.

Mels rolled her eyes.

"He's not mine." Amy continued.

"No. No. I'm not hers." Rory added.

Both of them were staring at Mels, who was still sprawled on Amy's bed.

" Oh, come on!" Mels sighed "Seriously, it's got to be you two. Oh, cut to the song. It's getting boring."

"Nice thought, okay, but completely impossible." Amy told her friend, folding her arms.

"Yeah, impossible." Rory added, although he still looked a little confused.

"I mean, I'd love to. He's gorgeous. He's my favourite guy. But he's, you know…" Amy trailed off.

"A friend." Rory completed, just as Amy rather awkwardly added "Gay."

Amy and Rory both looked at each other, Amy wide-eyed while Rory frowned.

"I'm not gay." Rory told her, brow furrowing again.

"Yes, you are." Amy told him.

"No. No, I'm not." Rory protested.

"Course you are! Don't be stupid." Amy replied with a small, confused smile "In the whole time I've known you, when have you shown any interest in a girl?"

Rory didn't respond, and he seemed to blush slightly.

"Penny in the air." Mels murmured, watching the pair with a smirk.

"I mean, I've known you for, what, ten years? I've seen you practically every day. Name one girl you've paid the slightest bit of attention to?" Amy continued, oblivious.

Rory blushed even more, and, wide-eyed suddenly fled the room. At that exact moment, Amy's eyes widened in realisation. Absolutely mortified, she turned to look at Mels, who was still smirking.

"Oh, my God!" Amy murmured, before setting off after a fleeing Rory "Rory!"

"And the penny drops." Mels whispered with a smirk.

**~StormWolf10~**

Rory was almost home, his cheeks burning and humiliated tears threatening to spill down his cheek at any moment. He hadn't bothered waiting around to see Amy's reaction. He'd heard her call his name, but he hadn't looked round. Hadn't wanted to see her laughing at him. Laughing at stupid old Rory Arthur Williams, the idiot who'd believed he'd ever have a chance with someone as gorgeous and lovely as Amelia Jessica Pond. All he wanted to do was crawl into his bed and hide. He knew he'd have to face her at some point, but not tonight.

"Rory! Wait up!"

Instead of stopping and waiting, Rory picked up his pace. He could hear Amy's hurried footsteps getting closer, and could tell that she was running after him. Why was she running after him? Was it really that funny? Biting down hard on his lip, Rory continued towards his house, fishing his keys out of his pocket as he went.

"Rory, please."

A hand was suddenly on his shoulder, stilling him, and he reluctantly looked round. Amy was there, her cardigan wrapped around her and her cheeks flushed from chasing after him. Rory merely stared at her.

"About what happened, back there…" Amy began uncertainly.

"Can we just forget it happened?" Rory interrupted quietly "Because I know what you're gonna say."

"You do?" Amy asked in confusion.

"Yeah." Rory replied "You're gonna tell me about how us being friends will be too awkward now, that you don't feel the same way and that maybe we should avoid each other for a while. But I don't want that…"

"Were you listening to anything I was saying up there?" Amy interrupted, her voice tinged with amusement.

Rory merely blinked.

"Yeah. You thought I was gay." He pointed out.

He turned to leave again, but Amy caught hold of his arm.

"Not that, you idiot!" Amy told him "Before that. When Mels said about us two, I said that I'd love to and I thought you were gorgeous…"

She trailed off, hoping Rory would get the hint.

"Yes, and then you said I was gay!" Rory repeated exasperatedly. His expression then changed suddenly as he took in what Amy had just said.

Amy waited patiently in front of him, watching him carefully.

"You… You think I'm gorgeous?" Rory asked in confusion.

Amy smiled, laughing slightly.

"Well, yeah. Of course I do! I wasn't saying all that for Mels' benefit, you know!" Amy told him.

"But why didn't you just say so before?"

"Because I thought you were gay, remember?" Amy reminded him, rolling her eyes "I wasn't about to announce to my gay best friend I thought he was gorgeous and that I really, _really_ liked him, was I?"

Rory's eyes widened.

"You… _really like_ me?" he repeated.

Amy bit her lip, realising it had just slipped out. Well, she mused, she couldn't back out now. So she nodded.

"Yeah. I _really_ like you." Amy told him, emphasising the 'really'.

"Good." Rory replied quietly "Because I really like you too, Amy."

Amy grinned at him and, suddenly, the whole of time seemed to slow down as Rory hesitantly lowered his lips to hers. Almost immediately, Amy began kissing him back, but they were suddenly stopped by a loud cheer. Pulling away quickly, they saw Mels stood about three feet away, grinning at them.

"Told you you two would end up married one day." She told them with a grin.

Rory rolled his eyes while Amy grinned.

"Talk about belated realisations!" Mels continued "How could you possibly think Rory was _gay_?"

Amy shrugged awkwardly, looking up at Rory again.

"You two took your time, didn't you?"

Rory and Amy whipped around to see Brian stood on his doorstep, watching the two with a soft smile.

"Dad," Rory began in shock.

Brian merely smiled.

"It's about time, if you ask me." Brian told them "I'll leave the door on the latch."

Rory and Amy watched in shock as Brian slipped back inside the house, pushing the door to. They then blinked at one another.

"Well," Mels piped up "as fun as this is to watch, I'm gonna head off home now."

The pair watched as Mels walked away, and suddenly they were alone again. Rory began to lower his lips to Amy's again.

"Rory," Amy murmured, their lips almost touching.

"Hmm?" Rory asked.

"I hate to say this, but I think the moment's gone."

Rory pulled away with a sigh before smiling.

"Typical Mels, huh?" he joked "Always interrupting us."

Amy grinned back.

"Yeah. I suppose so." Amy agreed "But think how much trouble she'd get in if we weren't around? She'd end up in prison. Permanently!"

"Yeah, but knowing Mels, she'd be able to break her way back out." Rory added "Though she'd probably go back in the evening to sleep."

Amy laughed at that, and cautiously reached up to kiss Rory gently on the lips.

"I'd better get going now," she told him quietly "but I'll see you tomorrow after your shift. Boyfriend."

She then pulled away, still grinning, and began heading home. And Rory Williams stood in the middle of the street, grinning to himself as he watched the love of his life walk away. But that didn't matter. Because she'd be back.


	20. First Date

**A/N: Final chapter! NOOOO! As for the reviewer from last chapter, I know Amy never said that she loved Rory in canon, but I really couldn't write the chapter without it happening. I'm going to keep thinking about it and see if I can change it, but I couldn't have Rory say it and not Amy… Thanks for reviewing though! **

**Disclaimer: All characters and recognised dialogue belongs to the BBC**

Rory tried to ignore the way his hands were shaking. He was nervous. Terrified, actually.

"You look fine, son." Brian assured him, watching as Rory ran a comb through his hair for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah?" Rory asked uncertainly.

Brian nodded encouragingly at his son. Rory gave his Dad a shaky smile and adjusted his tie once more before picking up the bunch of flowers. Roses. Because roses represented love, right? But now he was ready, now he was ready to head out and pick Amy up for their first-ever date, roses didn't seem quite right. Too cliché. Perhaps he should have bought chocolates instead?

"I'm gonna mess everything up, Dad." Rory announced suddenly, eyes wide.

"You'll be fine. You've been friends with Amy for years, you know each other better than you know yourselves." Brian told his son.

"Yeah, but we weren't _dating_ then!" Rory protested.

"It's perfectly normal to feel nervous on a first date, Rory." Brian announced calmly with a reassuring smile "Now, you'd better get going. You're reservation's for eight."

Rory nodded, and went to reach for his car keys when Brian pushed his own car keys into his hand. Rory blinked and stared at his Dad.

"Knowing Amy, she's wearing a very beautiful dress and high heels, and you can't expect her to get in your little car. You can borrow mine, I'm not going out anywhere tonight." Brian told his son with a smile.

Rory smiled back in thanks and accepted the car keys.

**~StormWolf10~**

Taking a deep breath, Rory knocked on Amy's front door. To his shock, it was opened by her Aunt Sharon. Quickly recovering, Rory smiled at the woman.

"Hello, Sharon. Is Amy ready for our date?"

"She's still getting ready." Sharon replied "You might as well come in and wait."

Rory stepped inside gratefully, and stood awkwardly by the stairs, waiting for Amy. He didn't have to wait long, as soon Amy appeared at the top of the stairs in a modest but pretty green dress. Just as Brian had predicted, Amy was wearing high heels too, and Rory was relieved that he was using his Dad's car.

"You look beautiful." Rory told her when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Amy blushed, but smiled back.

"You don't look too bad yourself." She told him with a grin.

"I, uh, got these for you," Rory announced, holding out the bunch of roses.

Amy grinned even further, and took them, kissing Rory on the cheek.

"I'll just go and put these in some water and then we'll get going, yeah?" Amy asked uncertainly.

Rory nodded, and Amy headed off to the kitchen. It took no more than a few minutes, and soon they were in the car on the way to a restaurant in Gloucester. The car ride was awkward, and neither of them really knew what to say to one another. When they finally pulled into a car park, Rory confused Amy even further.

"Stay there." He announced, slipping out of the car before Amy could reply.

And then, suddenly, he was opening Amy's door for her, and she couldn't help but grin as he helped her out of the car.

"Aren't you quite the gentleman?" Amy asked him with a grin.

Rory blushed slightly, and locked the car. He led her to the restaurant, pulling her chair out for her before sitting down himself. With a nervous smile at Amy, Rory began to look over the menu.

**~StormWolf10~**

"I'm having a really lovely night," Amy told Rory suddenly, smiling at him.

"Me too." Rory replied, smiling "I'm glad."

They descended into silence again as they finished off their meals. Finally, Amy set her cutlery down and wiped at her mouth with a napkin, careful not to smudge her makeup.

"Why is it so hard for us to find something to talk about?" Amy asked, laughing slightly.

"I have no idea," Rory admitted with a slight chuckle.

Again, they fell into a silence, only this time there was no food to be eaten or to distract them. Amy looked around the restaurant, hoping for some inspiration.

"So," she began after a while "how's work?"

"Fine," Rory replied, nodding "it's fine. Not really something you can discuss over a meal, though."

Amy nodded, wrinkling her nose slightly at that. Of course, she really didn't want to think about blood and stuff at a meal. Particularly because she'd just enjoyed a Spaghetti Bolognese.

"I'm so nervous!" Amy admitted with a shaky laugh after a moment or two "And I don't know why, we've known each other for twelve years!"

"Well, my Dad said it's perfectly normal to be nervous on your first date." Rory told Amy with a small smile "And although we've known each other for years, we weren't dating. I suppose that makes it a little more… awkward, I suppose, until we start to function as a normal couple."

Amy snorted at that, and Rory looked a little confused.

"Us? Normal?" Amy asked with a smirk "We've known each other for twelve years, and in that time, I've bitten four psychiatrists and we've spent much of that time picking Mels up from various Head teachers offices and Police stations!"

Rory couldn't help but grin at that, rubbing his eye.

"I suppose so," he admitted with a grin.

Just then, they were interrupted by Amy's mobile going off. She shot Rory an apologetic look, but he merely smiled and watched as she retrieved her phone from her clutch bag.

"Hello?" Amy asked.

There was a pause as she listened to the person on the other end of the phone. She rolled her eyes, and Rory frowned in confusion.

"Ok… I see… Yes, thank you. We'll be there soon to pick her up." Amy told the person on the other end of the phone before hanging up with a sigh.

"Guess what?" she asked Rory dryly.

"Mels in a police cell again?" Rory asked, sighing.

Amy nodded, and Rory quickly called a waiter over with their bill. That payed, the pair got to their feet.

"Come on then," Rory announced, taking Amy's hand as they left the restaurant "let's go bail Mels out. I'm starting to see now why she calls us her parents."

**~StormWolf10~**

Rory blinked as his phone was snatched out of his hand.

"The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?" the stranger asked.

He looked familiar, but Rory couldn't quite place where he recognised the man from. Blinking again, Rory turned to his girlfriend.  
"Amy."

"Hi!" Amy replied with a smile, before turning back to the other man "Oh, this is Rory, he's a friend."

"Boyfriend." Rory corrected quickly.

Ok, so they'd only been on one date. And it had been cut short because their friend had wound up in a police cell. But they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Right?

"Kind of boyfriend." Amy amended with a shrug.

"Amy." Rory said, looking at her.

"Man and dog. Why?" the stranger interrupted, fiddling with Rory's phone.

Rory's eyes widened as he took in the man for the first time. Slightly floppy, brown hair. Swirly patterned brown tie. Torn blue shirt, pinstripe trousers and trainers.

"Oh my God, it's him!" Rory realised, staring in disbelief at the man.

"Just answer his question, please." Amy sighed, exasperated.

"It's him, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor." Rory stated, looking at his girlfriend again.

"Yeah, he came back." Amy admitted, cheeks flooding with embarrassment.

"But he was a story. He was a game!" Rory protested as he attempted to wrap his head around it.

All those years, playing Amy's Raggedy Doctor, trying to live up to the reputation of the fictitious man who, now, seemed to be not at all fictitious. The whole thing was making Rory's head hurt.

"Man and dog. Why? Tell me now." The Doctor interrupted, now nose-to-nose with Rory.

"Sorry." Rory apologised quickly "Because he can't be there. Because he's…"

"In a hospital, in a coma." The Doctor said at the same time as Rory.

"Yeah." Rory admitted quietly.

"Knew it." The Doctor announced "Multiform, you see? Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a life feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind."

Rory merely blinked, and somehow, within the next few minutes, an alien spaceship had appeared, the Doctor had caused a (minor) explosion and they were chasing an alien that was hiding in the form of one man and his pet dog. Then suddenly, the Doctor was running off, and Rory found his own feet leading him to his Mini, Amy following him close behind.

"But how can he be here? How can the Doctor be here?!" Rory asked incredulously as he hastily unlocked the car and dropped into the drivers' seat.

Amy didn't reply, and suddenly her words from their date the previous night echoed through Rory's mind: _"Us? Normal?"_ As Rory started up the engine and began making his way towards the hospital, he took a deep breath. If the Doctor was really there, if the Doctor was real… This was the first day of the rest of their lives…


	21. Sequel

The sequel to this story is now up! So read, review, favourite and follow! It can be found on my fanfiction page, or you can just look under the Amy/Rory section. It is entitled 'Amelia Williams and the man who could do anything for her', and looks at Amy and Rory's time together post-The Angels Take Manhattan.


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